WHEN THE WORLD WAS SOFT

A ground-breaking graphic novel telling Yindjibarndi cultural stories in an immediate and engaging way for a contemporary audience.

Our grandmothers and grandfathers sing our songs and tell our stories every day, just like our old people long ago sang songs and told stories to their children. And now we are sharing them with you. Long ago when the world was soft, the beginning of time that Yindjibarndi call Ngurra Nyujunggamu, Minkala and the Marrga Creation Spirits lifted up the sky from the soft clay world and created everything that lives. Yindjibarndi believe all creation is written in our landscape and was sung long ago, filling our Ngurra (Country) with sacred meanings and deep religious significance. At the dawn of time, Ngurra Nyujunggamu, the world was soft as clay and the sky was very low. Our Creator, Mingkala, sang the songs from which all life and Ngurra evolved. These are some of our stories. Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation is based in Roeboroune, in WA's Pilbara region. Its purpose is to collect, sustain and promote knowledge of Yindjibarndi culture our ngurra, wanda, and animals, our language, genealogy, mythology, social history, and biography to sustain our Yindjibarndi identity, self-esteem, respect and other values we consider vital to our lives. We do this for our children and our future generations so that they too, are inspired to contribute to our Australian national community. Juluwarlu's cultural recording and archiving project was started by Lorraine Coppin in the Ngurrawaana Community on the Yindjibarndi tablelands in 1998 with elder Woodley King and his grandson, Michael Woodley, and was incorporated in 2000.