26-440 – Albert Pilkington

 Mamajarra is a spring and soak located within Kupayura (Kupayiyura, Savory Creek), a creek located between the Little Sandy and Gibson deserts of Western Australia. Kupayura drains into the south western end of the large salt lake, Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment). 

Both Mamajarra and Kupayura feature in the Martu Ngayurnangalku (ancestral cannibal beings) Jukurrpa (Dreaming). The Ngayurnangalku are said to resemble people in their appearance, except for their fangs and long curved knife like fingernails they use to catch and hold their human victims. These beings continue to live beneath the crust of Kumpupirntily lake in an underground world lit by their own sun, and surface only to feed on human flesh. The Ngayurnangalku stopped at Mamajarra and Kupayura as they journeyed to Kumpupirntily for an important meeting during the Jukurrpa. Between Kupayura and through to Kumpupirntily they created many soaks, urinating along the way. Despite their origins, these soaks are sources of good drinking water.