NGALKODJEK

Transcription of text by Jack Nawilil about two ceremonial objects – Karlanj and Ngalkodjek. Transcribed by Murray Garde and Margaret Carew 2 & 5 December 2017. Notes by Margaret Carew on 5 Dec 2017. Note: The site Jack refers to as Koenoedjangka is in the Rembarrnga language. The ‘oe’ vowel sounds like the ‘ur’ in English ‘fur’.

“This one here, like ngaye ngakurrmeng, im my draw.This one here [ceremonial objects], I have drawn my own personal designs on them.This one Ngalkodjek.This one (is called) Ngalkodjek. (MG – note, that this is not the subsection term Ngalkodjok, rather the stem - kodjek is formative in the verb -kodjekmang ‘to abduct’ and may refer to a secret episode in the Nakorrkko story, the father and son cultural heroes for Bininj in western Arnhem Land).

“Daluk, im from Elcho im bin travelling.This represents a woman, she travelled (here) from Elcho Island, she is from Elcho, she was a woman indeed, shewent/travelled, this one and this one too.”

“Yoh. This one I made it, the design from Kinidjangka, the place where flying foxes live where the Nakorrkko passed through. I made that. I’ve made that story for you, that one of mine. I have put it there. You know that. You know what I’m talking about Bulanj (to Murray Garde).”

“Didjan, nane, dijan gama i bin travelling garra didjei, garra didjei. This one here, she is a woman who travelled this way, coming this way (to the west from north-east Arnhem Land). Im gona garra ebrijing. From Kunidjangka i bin make it. From Koenidjangka ngamarnbom en nani Koenidjangka ngamarnbom. En dijan Koenidjangka ngamarnbom. Nane now. She has many things. I made it, the one from Kinidjangka.“

“This design belongs to me. Like, I made it, and it should not be confused with a morning star pole, no, it is something different. they are separate indeed, these dreamings. It (an ancestral spirit) put it there. It is my totemic emblem. It is my ancestral design of the ancestral beings, indeed.”