My Headscarf Tells a Story - Mina Mina Jukurrpa

I chose to wear Mina Mina Jukurrpa for my husband's introductory video filmed on location at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi, marking his commencement as the new Australian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

I am passionate about First Nations rights and representation and as an Ally of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, showing respect and recognition matters to me.

The Australian First Nations scarf I am wearing in the introductory video and my Linkedin profile picture is titled, 'Mina Mina Jukurrpa - Women’s Ceremony Dreaming' - by Warlpiri woman Aunty Mary Napangardi Gallagher.

This Jukurrpa - Dreaming - is law and it conveys ‘sovereignty’ as a ‘spiritual notion’.

Defining sovereignty as a spiritual notion is not easy for ??paki (non-Indigenous in Yol?u language) to grasp, yet it is an important and timeless truth which describes First Nations Peoples connection to land. This description was made clear in the second paragraph of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

This sovereignty is spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

The Statement was an invitation to all Australians and called for:

• a First Nations Voice to be permanently included in the Australian Constitution; and
• the establishment of a Makarrata - Yolgnu word meaning 'a coming together after a struggle' - Commission to supervise agreement-making and truth-telling about our history.

On 14 October 2023, a national referendum was?held asking all Australians' to vote on whether to change the Australian Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. The referendum did not pass.

Mina Mina Jukurrpa is about sovereignty and it tells the story of a journey by a group of Warlpiri women travelling through the Tanami Desert across country gathering Ngalyipi, a tree vine. My scarf conveys the Dreaming (law) of the First Peoples of 'Australia' and their ancient connection to country/land.

Warlpiri women have gathered and used the vine for thousands of years in sacred women’s ceremonies, connecting them to one another, to the land and in honouring ancestral beings. Ngalyipi vine also has medicinal uses.

This Dreaming (law) conveyed through art by Aunty Mary Napangardi Gallagher is evidence of the sovereignty of the Warlpiri community and how they have connected with the land in the past and still in the present. May they be connected in their sovereignty to the land long into the future. Inshallah.

Warlpiri is also the name of the ancient language still spoken by approximately 3000 of the Warlpiri community who live in the Tanami Desert, northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia.

According to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), prior to European 'settlement' in 1788, there were over 250 Indigenous languages spoken across the continent. In 2016, 120 languages were spoken and today, 90 per-cent of Indigenous Australian languages are considered endangered.

Much work has been, and continues to be done to preserve Australian First Nations languages and culture, including Warlpiri language.