18-829 – Thelma Dundan (Dunjan) Judson

“It’s a waterhole, yuwayi (yes), a soak. There’s plenty kalyu (water) there. It’s kayili (east) from here [Parnngurr]. Plenty tali (sandhills), plenty warta (trees, vegetation). It’s a camping area, my ngurra (home Country, camp). Sandhills, minyarra (bush onions), pretty flowers and green grass around the waterhole” 

 – Ngarga Thelma Judson 

Kupankurlu is a large soak and rockhole located in the Percival Lakes region of Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. This site lies within Ngarga’s ngurra, the area which she travelled extensively with her family in her childhood. She recalls collecting minyarra here as a young girl. 

The Kupankurlu water sources are permanent, and as such this area was an important camp site during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era. At this time, knowledge of water sources was critical for survival, and today Martu Country is still defined in terms of the location and type of water. Each of the hundreds of claypans, rockholes, waterholes, soaks and springs found in the Martu desert homelands is known by name, location, quality and seasonal availability through real life experience and the recounting of Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives.