‘Tjarany Roughtail’ is a collection of Tjukurrpa or Dreaming stories belonging to Kukatja family groups. These are often told after an evening meal. Their telling is important in keeping the Culture and law of the Kukatja people. Each story and the tracts of Country they are connected to belong to different kinship groups. ‘The Roughtail Lizard Dreaming’ is the collection’s first story revealing how the stories were given as songs to the people and is the starting point of the Kukatja kinship system.
Each of the eight stories is presented in English and Kukatja and accompanied by an artwork telling of the story and a drawing explaining the artwork thus providing an insight into the interplay of oral storytelling and art. A list of the artwork is provided at the end of the book.
The book provides an in-depth description of the Kukatja family or kinship system and how it relates to various stories in this collection. There is also an extensive glossary of Kukatja words and a pronunciation guide. The Kukatja people’s Country is in the far East Kimberley and Great Sandy Desert region of Western Australia.
The book has a generosity and openness in its invitation from the Kukatja people to listen and enjoy their stories and notes that permission was given to the creators to tell and share the stories. This is an important and sophisticated book from the Kukatja people and acknowledged in its winning of several literary awards.
Gracie Greene grew up in Balgo and is descended from the Kukatja people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. She is a traditional artist, and her paintings and sculptures have appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications throughout Australia.
Lucille Gill was a Kukatja speaker who was born in 1956 at Old Balgo, a mission which straddles the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert in the remote east Kimberley. Her paintings have appeared in several exhibitions and are part of collections both in Australia and overseas including the Balance Collection of the Queensland Art Gallery. Her artwork appears throughout the book
Joe Tramacchi is a co-author and non-Indigenous collaborator on ‘Tjarany Roughtail.’ Originally from Gympie, Queensland, he worked at several remote community schools in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Winner, 1993 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Winner, 1993 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year
Winner, 1993 NSW Premier’s Literary Award, Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature
Winner, 1993 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards Children’s and Young Adult Books
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
