WAC191/22 – GABRIEL NODEA

– 45 x 45 cm

The Gija message stick(Bungarrata) was sent around to all the Gija places where all the Gija people were living. When the Bungarrata reached Gija people, it was handed over to the senior elder of those individual tribal Gija groups. The Bungarrata was marked by a senior elder holder of the Gija law and culture (Munumbarra). Then the messager would pass on the message  in Gija and the senior elders of those individual Gija tribal groups would acknowledge right away who it was coming from, what it meant to them and that they would start moving/travelling into that certain meeting/gathering place immediately by tribal order from the senior elders. The message Bungarrata travelled around places at the beginning of the new moon, quarter moon and half moon. By the time it reached its last Gija place, the Gija people would move into that meeting/gathering place and find that everybody was already gathered there and it would be full moon. Nobody had a clue how that message stick(Bungarrata) system worked but it always did, and that was the beauty of it.