Ganguri Story

This is a story about Ganguri.

Stories about ganguri can be told through songlines, dancing and dreamtime.

Elders say that the roots of the yam are connected to the land of the dead and that the yams are a gift given by the spirits.

One day, a man from the Galpu clan name Yuwululngurra was walking on the shore and saw a strange leaf floating on the water. He picked up the leaf and looked around to see which plant that leaf belonged to, but didn’t find anything.

He took his canoe and with his two wives and child, they paddled until they reached the island Yuwululngurra could see from the beach back at his home.

He got off the canoe and searched for the plant of the leaf, but didn’t find anything again.

Yuwululngurra saw another island and asked his wives to come, but they wanted to rest, so they stayed there camping on the beach.

He paddled to the island and the water was strange, he looked closely and the water looked like liquid.

When he stopped on the shore, strange people came to greet him, the strange people had no bones.

He asked the boneless people about the strange leaf, they looked at each other then took him to their boss.

The boss gave him lots of food and water and the plants of the leaf he was looking for which was a bag of yams.

He came back to the other island to give food to his wives and child, but they were nowhere to be found. He searched the beach and saw three adult skeletons; the skeletons were his family and that they were laying there for years and years.

Yuwululngurra broke the bones and he took his canoe and paddled all the way back to his island. He saw children playing on the beach, he didn’t know who these kids were.

He went to speak with the elders, but they looked confused they never seen this man before.

He gave them ganguri and told them that he found the plant he was looking for two days ago. They asked him his name and he said “I am Yuwululngurra”. They told him that Yuwululngurra and his wives and kid went missing years ago.

I learnt about this story by reading Welcome To My Country by Laklak Burarrwanga.