Manmarr Daisy Andrews
born about 1934
Walmajarri language group, Nangkarti skin group
Fitzroy Crossing
Mangkaja Arts
I was born at the creek near Cherrabun Station homestead. My father used to work there. Sometimes he would run away with us kids and his three wives, and the police would come and pick us up. One time they put chains around his neck and made him walk to Fitzroy.
Manmarr lives in Fitzroy Crossing. Together with Jukuja Dolly Snell, she was one of the pioneering. Fitzroy Crossing artists. She is one of the senior singers for Kaningarra (Well 48), an important rain-making site in her Country.
Kaningarra
2007 by Manmarr Daisy Andrews
acrylic on canvas, 90 x 119 cm
Mangkaja Arts
Natiomal Museum of Australia
This is Kaningarra, near Well 48 on the Canning Stock Route. There were little birds that [would] come before the rain to the waterhole, but now it’s all dried up. Old people used to sing for the rain and the birds would come down.
Kaningarra is a major rainmaking site. A number of rainmaking songs converge here, including this one:
Kitil and wiyirr birds migrate towards the storm, bringing the rain. Puddles form, little streams run on the ground. People walk through pools of water. Rain makes the waters run like a river. Foaming up, the waters meet and flood.
