Gunybi Ganambarr
Sail
Image: 48 x 50.3cm; Paper: 64.8 x 64.9cm; Paper: Hahmemulhle

ID: 4121-24

This is Gunybi’s account;

“Djirriṯ is the name we call this sail with the diagonal mast. It was the late Dry season. The start of the Wet before the first rains start. this is the right time to hunt turtle and when the maypal shellfish, the mekawu- rock oysters are at their best. We intended to get Mulkurrmi- use an axe to chop large sections of oysters off the orcks to bring home.  We drove the boat down to Garrapara where we launched and went straight out to Gunyuru (round Hat Island). We cruised around for a while but didn’t find any miyapunu (turtle). So we went straight out to Woodah Island and immediately got two big Dhalwaṯpu (Green Turtle). Its a crazy thing but by this time I was starving for ŋarali (cigarette) and only had rolling tobacco and no papers. I hadn’t brought my luŋiny (pipe). So I took us into shore at Woodah Isle where I saw a Luŋiny tree so I could cut myself a pipe. We landed and I cut a pipe hollowed out the stem added a bullet shell as the bowl and Had a smoke. When we went back to the boat and hopped in to take off again we found the battery was flat. We couldn’t start the boat! I tried pushing the start repeatedly but there was no spark.

By this time it was late afternoon. We had no firewood so I went up the hill and got some as well as some wuḏuku (driftwood) from the beach. We had three jerry cans of water and we had all the oysters we could eat. We had a quiet night all though we had no light other than the moon and the fire we were joking and laughing and relaxed because we knew we could sail in the morning using the djambatj (harpoons). I had already seen the boat canopy and the ropes and knew that we could do it.

In the morning Yinimala and I got the guys together and explained what we needed to do. We took copper wire off the spears to use to thread the shirt and the canopy together and attach it to the harpoons which had been tied together. When I woke that morning I saw the waŋupini (thunderhead cloud) on the horizon and I said to Yinimala, “Look thats the wind waiting for us!”

We were waiting a long time for the tide to come in so we used wood to roll the boat out a long way to meet the water. Then we let one of the turtles overboard with a rope attached and she towed us out into the deep water. As we reached the edge of the reef I cut the rope and let her go and the wind caught us.”

In early December 2020 Gunybi and Yinimala set off with family to go turtle hunting. They drove from their homeland at Gäṉgän a few hours down the bush track to Garrapara (Grindall Bay). From their they launchged to the bätpa (reefs) around Woodah Isle. Their engine broke down near Woodah Isle whilst turtle hunting so they paddled to the shore of the island where they were able to find food, fire, shelter and water. The party then set about fashioning a sail from what they had available in order to find their way home. Gunybi and his son Daniel worked with Yinimala Gumana his djuŋgaya (spiritual manager), Mangila Munuŋgurr and Buluŋgitj Marawili to sew the boat canopy and their shirts into a Makassan sail which could be deployed from their turtle harpoons. The next morning once tide and wind were favourable they set sail for home where they were intercepted by the Police Boat which had been launched after travelling from Gapuwiyak due to reports that the men had been missing overnight.