Ngulajuku! (ATOM Study Guide)

The picture book Ngulajuku! tells the story of the history of the Nyirrpi community in the Tanami desert. Through this book, students will learn about the history of the Warlpiri people of the Tanami desert through the course of the twentieth century. They will learn about not only the hardships, but about an extraordinary example of resilience and a struggle for Self-determination that led to the community of Nyirrpi being established.

Ngulajuku! is a first-person account of the history told by Nyirrpi leader Tiger Japaljarri Morris (December 2002) in an interview to Warlpiri educator Fiona Napaljarri Gibson (FM) in Warlpiri language, and later translated into English. The story tells of pre-contact life. It describes early contact experiences and working for the recently arrived kardiya who came to the Tanami ‘looking for mining’ and life in the early days of the mission at Yuendumu. It recounts how life at Yuendumu eventually became too difficult due to overcrowding, grog and youth unrest, and the subsequent act of Self-determination, resilience and mighty hard work which saw the group of Warlpiri build a road so they could move back to their country around what is now the community of Nyirrpi.

Ngulajuku! provides an excellent bilingual resource, both for Warlpiri students and for non-Warlpiri speakers to learn about Warlpiri people, history, language and culture.

Curriculum Links:

Ngulajuku! has links to the following learning areas within the Australian Curriculum. Please note this list is not exhaustive:

• History
• Geography
• Humanities and Social Sciences

Ngulajuku! is available for purchase here.