UNGARINYIN RELIGION. Members of the Ngarinyin (Ngarinjin) language group, along with their regional neighbors the Worrorra (Worrora/Worora), Wunambal (Unambal), and Gambre (Gamberre), whose combined, adjacent territories cover the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia, share a religious tradition primarily focused on the figures known as wandjina and wunggurr and an associated set of beliefs and practices. While variants of wunggurr, the Rainbow Serpent motif, are evident in Aboriginal cosmologies across Australia (Radcliffe-Brown, 1926), in the northern Kimberley region the Rainbow Serpent beliefs take on a distinctive cast through their interaction with the wandjina complex (cf. Elkin, 1930, "Rock Paintings of North-West Australia," p. 279).

Wandjina and Wunggurr

Whereas wandjina and wunggurr are in some respects distinguishable from each other, in local beliefs and practice they are not entirely separate entities. Wandjina are named and localized "spirits of place" believed to reside in specific tracts of country associated with...