"Mungayaruyaru"

Ngarralja Tommy May was born at Yarrnkurrnja in 1935. He is a member of the Walmajarri language group and has been a strong spokesperson for Mangkaja Arts. He is a Director of the Association of Northern Kimberley and Arnhemland Aboriginal Artists (ANKAAA), has represented Mangkaja at the National Reconciliation Conference, The Festival of the Dreaming and the Fulbright Symposium. Ngarralja Tommy May delivered the following speech to the Reconciliation Conference in the Melbourne Convention Centre , 27th May 1997.

"I will be talking about Intellectual Property Right, the meaning for this story or words for Aboriginal people, from Aboriginal side. What is the meaning of this intellectual property for us. My area is Kurtal area. This is a jila (permanent waterhole) in the desert country south from Fitzroy Crossing. We have song, story, dance and painting for this place. This is our own, nobody can copy this. This is the Intellectual property for Kurtal people. My thinking, my idea is that if I come from Kurtal side, I am not allowed to come to, to cross to the other side of those other jila. I am not allowed to come across that Canning Stock Route to say Japirngka side. I have to be very careful, because that is not my place. That is for somebody else really, their property, their intellectual property rights. When I was a kid, my father and my mother used to take me to someone else's country and we couldn't call the name for that waterhole. We must use a side language, we call it malkarniny; because I come from another place, a different country I can't know that place, I can't call that name. That is really Aboriginal way for copyright. That means you can't steal the story or singing or dancing from another place. That means we have to be careful, to make sure, we can't come across another person's country or place. We might get hunted out, might be we'll get killed or they might sing us, make us mad in the head. From early days really; really hard but straight that law. This big painting now is for all jila people, for proof for the land claim. Native Title is properly blackfella story, blackfella law I reckon. That painting is only for proof. When you go to that high court and tell your story, listening really carefully first before we open our mouths, "we don't believe" might be kartiya (non- Aboriginal) say. They might say "we don't believe, might be you're lying". There's plenty like that I reckon; some might be alright, some might believe, some don't. That's why we made this painting, for proof; to let people understand so that they can know. "

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