Maluminy Maymuru
Ratjuk/Balin
paper size 61 x41cm Image 39 x 30cm

ID: 290-16

This print is about the barramundi (ratjulk the freshwater barramundi). The saltwater barramundi is called Balin.

This barramundi is swimming n the rapiny ga monuk gapu( the meeting of freshwater and saltwater).
When we catch the barramundi the eye goes red. The skin is a grey blue colour and shines.

The barramundi feeds on the smaller fish and also the dragonfly that fly around the water surface.

When we catch lots of barramundi we cook it in an underground oven, using guṉḏirr(termite nests), otherwise we cook it in the coals of the fire.
The season for ratuk is the beginning of the Midawarr.( April /May). This is the season just after the wet when the bush foods and seafood are plentiful, animals are fat. The wind blows from the east.
This is the time the guṉurru tree( white gum, orange red flowers, edible seeds ( Darwin) Woollybutt. Eucalyptus miniata is flowering.

In storms with lots of lightning this tree is a safe place to stand under, because this tree has a rumaru ( avoidance relationship) with lightning.

Printed May 2010
FMP 83A