Homeland Centre(s)

Wandawuy – An inland village surrounded by freshwater in the fork of two tributaries of the Gurriyalayala River( Wyonga River).

Balaypalay – A coastal hamlet set in a sandy cove dotted with monolithic rock islets and outcrops. Garrthalala- One of the first homeland centres built by Yolngu it is close to Donald Thomson’s camp at Bayapula. A beachside town with an airstrip on high ground facing Caledon Bay.

Surname(s) Mununggurr

Spiritual Themes

Balana – This place refers to an ancestral turtle hunt. Although not explicit the Sisters’ progress through landscape is also present here as in all Dhuwa clan law. This place Wandawuy- means the Shark’s head and it is here that Mana was restrained by the gridlike fishtrap set by ancestral Djapu before his spiritual power overcame this mortal restraint.

Bol’ngu – The Thunderman is an embodiment of the Wet Season. A spear bent over the dancer’s head symbolises the layers of cloud arising from dedicated rainforest in each Dhuwa clan estate to form the Monsoon. Modern History; Wonggu is the legendary leader of the Djapu.

Thompson says

The thing that has struck me most forcibly about Wonggu and his camp is the fact that they are so enterprising. One man (has) so dominated a large strip of coastline that his name is feared for hundreds of miles and his people’s name known for thousands of miles.

Wonggu’s sons Maw, Daymbalipu, Djiriny, Mutitjpuy, Wirilma, Dhunggala and Djutjadjutja all played important roles in art, education, establishment of Yirrkala and homelands and mediation with the mainstream culture in the ensuing decades. Milkayngu Mununggurr was a leading yidaki proponent through Yothu Yindi until his untimely death in 2007.