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There is also a high degree of variation in the style of the Gwion Gwion/Girrigirro
figures. While some have fine limbs, others are more bulbous; some figures have
what appear to be tassels or feathers around their arms, others do not; some figures
appear to be dancing, whilst others wield spears, as if in battle. Images of animals
have also been painted in the Gwion Gwion/Girrigirro tradition. The fine illustrative
detail allows researchers to identify these animals down to species level, including
species not found on the Australian continent today. In this regard, Walsh and
Morwood (1999: 46) note that: 'the visual specificity allows subjects to be identified
in a way not possible for much of (Australian) rock art'. [see Criterion (c) for further
discussion on the rock art's potential to yield information about extinct species and
developments in technology and material culture].
Wanjina-Wunggurr people locate the Gwion Gwion paintings in the 'everywhen' of
Lalai (the Dreaming) and say that a small Lalai bird painted its image in rock shelters
with its beak (Vinnicombe and Mowarjarlai 1995a; Ngarjno et al. 2000; Blundell et
al. 2009).
* * * *
'The first man Gwion Gwion created by the Wanjina from the grass making the limbs
and body by tying the grass together then the Wanjina make the grass figure alive by
putting it in the black soil mud around the spring water country' (Nyawarra in
Ngarjnoet al. 2000).
* * * *
One Wanjina is said to have a Gwion Gwion as a wife, and Gwion Gwion are known
to 'visit' people in their dreams (Blundell et al. 2009). Ngarinyin people, members of
the Wanjina-Wunggurr community, also attribute the discovery of the practical use of
fire to the Gwion and credit them with the invention of much hunting technology, in
particular advances in pressure flake stone tools. Gwion Gwion remains a hereditary
name currently carried by young women of the Brrejirad dambun (clan estate)
(Ngarjno et al. 2000).
The meanings of these paintings for contemporary Wanjina-Wunggurr people are
comparable to the meanings that their forebears attributed to them, as recorded by a
number of ethnographers who have worked with Wanjina-Wunggurr people since the
1930s. Lommel's work with the Wunambal connected paintings of Gwion Gwion with
a Lalai bird called Kujon [Gwion]. Schultz (1956, 15 quoted in Layton 1992, 84) also
recorded that 'long ago Kujon, a black bird, painted on the rocks. He painted no
animals, only human-shaped figures'. More recently Crawford (1968, 85) reported the
association of these figures with the Lalai bird on the part of Aboriginal people at
Kalumburu. According to another version, '…the bush spirits (Koion or Djimi) see the
men and spirits and ask the bird to paint the sight for them. Because the bird can see
spirits which are invisible to humans, the Aborigines say that they cannot interpret the
meanings of the paintings' (Crawford 1968, 85).
Gwion Gwion/Girrigirro painted images are also an important component of the
Balanggara people's contemporary belief system (Blundell et al. 2009). Unlike the
traditional owners of the Wanjina-Wunggurr country, the Balanggara people do not
associate the Gwion Gwion/Girrigirro with Wanjina. Few paintings of Wanjina are
found in Balanggarra country, and according to Blundell et al. (2009) Aboriginal
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