View source for Wandjina

{{short description|Spirit beings of north-western Australian Aboriginal mythology}}
{{For|the ABC-TV series|Wandjina!}}
[[Image:Wandjina rock art.jpg|thumb|Wandjina [[rock art]] on the [[Barnett River]], [[Mount Elizabeth Station]]]]

The '''Wandjina''', also written '''Wanjina''' and '''Wondjina''' and also known as '''Gulingi''', are cloud and rain spirits from the [[Wanjina Wunggurr]] cultural bloc of [[Australian Aboriginal mythology| Aboriginal Australians]], depicted prominently in [[rock art]] in northwestern [[Australia]]. Some of the artwork in the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley region]] of [[Western Australia]] dates back to approximately 4,000 years ago. Another closely related spirit entity is the [[creator being]] '''Wunngurr''', a being analogous to the [[Rainbow Serpent]] in other Aboriginal peoples' belief systems, but with a different interpretation.

The stories of the Wandjina and the artwork depicting them remain important to the [[Mowanjum Community]] of [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal people]], and are one of the basic cultural elements of the [[Wanjina Wunggurr]] cultural bloc, which includes four Aboriginal  peoples in the Kimberley.

==Dreamtime legends==
Some [[The Dreaming|Dreamtime]] stories say the Wandjina created the landscape and its inhabitants, and continue to have influence over both. When the spirits found the place they would die, they painted their images on [[cave]] walls and entered a nearby waterhole. These paintings were then refreshed by Aboriginal people as a method of regenerating life force.<ref>Yorro Yorro: everything standing up alive, (1993), Mowaljarlai, D, and Malnic, J., Magabala Books, pp137-139.</ref>

The Wandjina can punish those who break the law with floods, lightning and cyclones.<ref name= FloodRockArt>{{cite book | author = Flood, Josephine| title = Rock Art of the Dreamtime | year = 1997}}</ref>

===Wandjina and Wunggurr beliefs===
The Wandjina and Wunggurr spirits are essential elements of the life of the [[cultural bloc]] known as the [[Wanjina Wunggurr]], consisting of the [[Worrorra]] (and neighbouring [[Ngardi]]<ref name=aztec/>), [[Wunambal]] and [[Ngarinyin]] peoples of the Kimberley.<ref name=wgac>{{cite web | title=Wunambal Gaambera People | website=Wunambal Gaambera Country | url=https://www.wunambalgaambera.org.au/wunambal-gaambera-people.htm }}</ref> Rock paintings depicting Wanjina, as well as the [[Gwion Gwion]] ("Bradshaw") paintings, are evidence of the shared culture.<ref name=aztec>{{cite web | title=Aztec Resources Ltd Announcements - Aztec Resources Ltd: Koolan Island Agreement | website=Investegate | date=24 April 2006 | url=https://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200604240833018572B | access-date=10 November 2020 | archive-date=15 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115013233/https://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200604240833018572B | url-status=dead }}</ref><!---refers to this ILUA: https://database.atns.net.au/agreement_print.asp?EntityID=3244 ---> The [[Wunambal]] people in the [[Mitchell Plateau]] area refer to Wandjina as Gulingi.<ref name=derby>{{cite web | title=Mitchell Plateau | website=Derby Tourism | url=https://www.derbytourism.com.au/about-the-area/gibb-river-road/mitchell-plateau | access-date=11 November 2020 | archive-date=11 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111081658/https://www.derbytourism.com.au/about-the-area/gibb-river-road/mitchell-plateau | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Wunggurr is a variant on the [[Rainbow Serpent]] creator being belief, while the wandjina are local spirits, attached to places, and associated with particular clans. Although some local expressions use the two terms interchangeably, ''wungurr'' is a "more diffuse life force animating and underlying the particular manifestations of its power that find expression in all species of things, including the wandjina". One facet of wungurr is embodied in a rock python known as Wanjad.<ref>{{cite web | title=Ungarinyin Religion | website=Encyclopedia.com | url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ungarinyin-religion | access-date=11 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312123533/https://www.derbytourism.com.au/about-the-area/gibb-river-road/mitchell-plateau | archive-date=12 March 2022 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Traditional rock artwork==
[[File:Wandjina at mt elizabeth.jpg|thumb|225x225px|Wandjina at Mt Elizabeth Station]]
[[File:Aboriginal rock art on the Barnett River, Mount Elizabeth Station.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Wandjina [[rock art]] on the [[Barnett River]], [[Mount Elizabeth Station]]]]
The broad-stroke artwork of the Wandjina rock art dates to around 3800–4000 years ago. The emergence of this art style follows the end of a millennium-long drought that gave way to a wetter climate characterised by regular monsoons.<ref name="ENSO Evidence">{{cite journal|last1=McGown|first1=Hamish|last2=Marx|first2=Samuel|last3=Moss|first3=Patrick|last4=Hammond|first4=Andrew|title=Evidence of ENSO mega-drought triggered collapse of prehistory Aboriginal society in northwest Australia|journal= Geophysical Research Letters|date=28 November 2012|volume=39|issue=22|pages=5|doi=10.1029/2012GL053916|url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8065&context=scipapers|bibcode=2012GeoRL..3922702M|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The Wandjina paintings have common colours of black, red and yellow on a white background. The spirits are depicted alone or in groups, vertically or horizontally depending on the dimensions of the rock, and are sometimes depicted with figures and objects like the [[Rainbow Serpent]] or [[Yam (vegetable)|yams]]. Common composition is with large upper bodies and heads that may show eyes and nose, but typically no mouth.  Two explanations have been given for this: they are so powerful they do not require speech and if they had mouths, the rain would never cease. Around the heads of Wandjina are lines or blocks of color, depicting lighting coming out of transparent helmets.<ref name=FloodRockArt/>

Today, the paintings are still believed to possess these powers and therefore are to be approached and treated respectfully.  Each site and painting has a name. Indigenous people of the Mowanjum community repaint the images to ensure the continuity of the Wandjina's presence.<ref>
{{cite book| author = Flood, Josephine| title = Rock Art of the Dreamtime| year = 1997}}</ref> Annual repainting in December or January also ensures the arrival of the monsoon rains, according to Mowanjum belief.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Akerman, Kim  |author2=Ryan, Judith |name-list-style=amp | title = Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley| year = 1993| p=12}}</ref>

Repainting has occurred so often that at one site the paint is over 40 layers deep.  The painting style has evolved during this process: more recent figures are stockier and some now possess eyelashes.<ref>{{cite book
|author1=Mulvaney, John  |author2=Kamminga, Johan |name-list-style=amp | title = Prehistory of Australia| year = 1999| p=405}}</ref>

==Depictions on bark==
In the late 1960s and early 1970s several Mowanjum artists depicted traditional Wandjina on pieces of string bark.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Images of power: Aboriginal art of the Kimberley|author1 =Ryan, Judith |date=1993 |publisher=[[National Gallery of Victoria]]| author2=Akerman, Kim |isbn=978-0724101603|location=Melbourne| oclc=29776440}}</ref> These [[bark painting]]s were sold mainly through the mission at [[Kalumburu, Western Australia|Kalumbaru]]. Some of the important artists from this region include [[Alec Mingelmanganu]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/alec-mingelmanganu/|title=Alec Mingelmanganu wandjina {{!}} wondjina {{!}} sell Alec Mingelmanganu|date=2017-09-18|work=Aboriginal Bark Paintings|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Charlie Numbelmoore]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/charlie-numbelmoore/|title=Charlie Numbelmoore {{!}} Charlie Numbulbor {{!}} sell Charlie Numbelmoore|date=2017-09-18|work=Aboriginal Bark Paintings|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Jack Karedada]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/jack-karedada/|title=Jack Karedada wandjina painting {{!}} wondjina {{!}} Sell Jack Karedada|date=2017-09-18|work=Aboriginal Bark Paintings|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en-US}}</ref> These artworks are now in major museum collections around the world.

==Other depictions==
Wandjina were the inspiration for a 1966 children's fantasy television series, ''[[Wandjina!]]'', produced by [[ABC Television (Australian TV network)|ABC Television]] in 1966.

In 2007, [[graffiti]] depictions of Wandjina appeared in [[Perth]], Western Australia.  Styles ranged from stencil-work to a spray painted Wandjina driving a pink car.  Using [[Flickr]] and [[blogs]], several people engaged in "Wandjina watching", documenting the Wandjina graffiti they found.<ref>{{cite web | title=Watching the Wandjina | website=PerthNorg | date=5 January 2007 | url=http://perth.norg.com.au/2007/01/05/watching_the_wandjina/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315135922/http://perth.norg.com.au/2007/01/05/watching_the_wandjina/ | archive-date=15 March 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref> These "wandering Wandjina" angered and upset some Indigenous people who said that only certain artists from their people are permitted to depict the Wandjina, without saying who these people are.<ref>{{cite web | title='Wandering Wandjinas' mystery | website=[[PerthNow]] | date=4 January 2007 | url=https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa/wandering-wandjinas-mystery-ng-50f81fec432f89a9e25dd1b79b2f7728 | access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref> A short film, ''Who Paintin' Dis Wandjina'', discussed the Aboriginal reaction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/who-paintin-dis-wandjina|title=Who Paintin' Dis Wandjina? |first=Jens| last= Korff| website = Creative Spirits}}</ref>

Images of the Wandjina are displayed on the walls of the [[Ringwood, Victoria|Ringwood]] Magistrates Court in Victoria; these are referenced as produced the [[National Gallery of Victoria]].{{cn|date=September 2023}} 

In 2016, during the [[Vivid Sydney]] festival, artwork of Wandjina by artist [[Donny Woolagoodja]] was projected onto the [[Sydney Opera House]] as part of its Lighting of the Sails celebration.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lighting up the Opera House |url=https://www.dambimangari.com.au/lighting-up-the-opera-house/ |website=Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation |access-date=25 December 2021 |language=en |date=19 August 2016}}</ref>

In 2023, Wandjina was added to the popular mobile game ''[[Fate/Grand Order]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=FGO |url=https://news.fate-go.jp/2023/worldtour/ |website=FGOJP |access-date=17 September 2023 |language=ja |date=17 September 2023}}</ref> initially as an antagonist and later as a playable character as a Foreigner-class Servant.<ref>{{cite web | last=Liu | first=Stephanie | title=New playable Fate/Grand Order foreigner will be Wandjina | website=Siliconera | date=18 September 2023 | url=https://www.siliconera.com/new-playable-fate-grand-order-foreigner-will-be-wandjina/ | access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Indigenous Australian art]]
*[[Weather god]]
*[[List of Stone Age art]]
*[[List of rain deities]]

== References ==
{{reflist|35em}}

[[Category:Rock art in Australia]]
[[Category:Australian Aboriginal deities]]
[[Category:Rain deities]]
[[Category:Nature spirits]]
[[Category:Creator deities]]
[[Category:Justice deities]]
[[Category:Kimberley (Western Australia)]]