Tiwi Islands- Aboriginal Australian LocationLocation · Landmark"Land of the Tiwi"

The Sea Rose Behind Her

The old blind woman Mudungkala crawled out of the ground at the southeastern end of Melville Island, carrying three infant children. As she made her way north and west, the sea water rose behind her, flooding the low-lying ground and severing the islands from the mainland. By the time she completed her journey, Bathurst and Melville Islands stood apart, surrounded by the Arafura Sea, and her children became the first Tiwi people.

After Mudungkala established the islands through separation, the spirit being Banaitja arrived during the Palaneri, the creation period when the world received its final form. Banaitja gave the islands their detailed features: the hills and creeks, the forests and coastlines that define the Tiwi landscape. He created the plants and animals and set the seasons in their cycle. Where Mudungkala had made the world, Banaitja furnished it.

The Burial Poles

The Pukumani funeral ceremony, unique to the Tiwi, involves the creation of elaborately carved and painted burial poles called tutini. These tall poles, painted in bold geometric designs, are raised around the grave of the deceased. The Pukumani was established during the Palaneri, and every performance follows the pattern the ancestors laid down. Mountford documented the ceremony during the Arnhem Land expedition, and the tutini remain among the most recognizable works in Aboriginal art.