Namarali
Worrorra · deity · dreaming creator era · deity
Namarali is the most important individually named Wanjina of the Worrorra people of the north-west Kimberley coast. In Lalai, the Dreaming, he travelled the coastal country, was wounded in a great battle, and finally lay down at Langgi on Worrorra country, where his painted image remains in a rock shelter. Because the paintings are the Wanjina themselves, senior Worrorra custodians, most famously Sam Woolagoodja and his son Donny Woolagoodja, have carried the obligation to keep Namarali's image fresh through ritual repainting; Donny Woolagoodja's giant Namarali figure rose over the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Namarali stands to the Worrorra as Wodjin (Wanalirri) does to the Ngarinyin and Rimijmarra to the Wunambal.
Domains
- rain and clouds
- law and social order
Powers
- to bring the monsoon rains and storm clouds
- to lay his own image into the rock as a lasting painting
Sources
- Valda Blundell & Donny Woolagoodja, Keeping the Wanjinas Fresh: Sam Woolagoodja and the Enduring Power of Lalai, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2005
- Ian M. Crawford, The Art of the Wandjina: Aboriginal Cave Paintings in Kimberley, Western Australia, Oxford University Press, 1968
- Mark Clendon, Worrorra: A Language of the North-West Kimberley Coast, University of Adelaide Press, 2014