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Oomarri - Coming Home

By Traudl Tan with Ambrose Mungala Chalarimeri OAM

Traditional Owner and Kwini Elder Ambrose Mungala Chalarimeri OAM, and author Traudl Tan met at Pundulmurra College in the Pilbara in 1995.

In 1998 after a long search, they found Ambrose’s birthplace, Oomarri, a location he had not seen since childhood in the remote east Kimberley. They discovered that the site was like an open-air art gallery, rich with exquisite and ancient Gwion paintings.

To share the significance of that rediscovery, Ambrose and Traudl created the poem, Oomarri – Coming Home, together, which is included here, as well as in Ian Waina’s book, Two ways to see: A rock art research journey. ( Oomarri – Coming Home was first published in Meanjin – 83.1 Autumn 2024).

Ambrose Mungala Chalarimeri was instrumental in the establishment of the Kimberley Visions project. As Senior Traditional Owner of the King George Marraran (big flowing water) and Oomarri Country, and upon rediscovering his birthplace, he invited a team from the University of Western Australia, then led by Dr Martin Porr, to conduct archaeological research there. This project was to become the Kimberley Visions: Rock art dynamics of northern Australia, a five-year landmark study mapping the rock art and occupational history of the Northern Kimberley.

In 2025, Ambrose Mungala Chalarimeri was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his Service to Indigenous Heritage Conservation.
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Oomarri – Coming Home

far, far beyond the black stump
in a diamond mining camp
they draw a mud map for us
under a tree in soft silky sand

here’s how you get to Python Pool

no salties, plenty of shade

swimming there is really cool-

not knowing what we'd find
we press on through creek and river beds
across deep ditches,
around boulders and fallen tree trunks
when smooth slippery soils
push the wheels into a suddent jig
but the calm driver in control
smiles on this nerve-wrecking patrol

don’t worry,

our old Toyota is doing well,

it’s meant for this country

the two are a good match

we’ll park it under the trees

open the bonnet

so the engine can breathe

at last in a crunchy-gravelly space
our worn-out-four-wheel grinds to a stand
steadily he scans the land –
now recognition lights his face

we found it, this is it!

that was never Python Pool,

that’s gardia-come-lately name

this is where I was born

and we call it Oomarri,

was only a small boy then

when last I been here,

our Maaba told me

‘bout the rocks, fresh water

how I belong here

and need to look after it

the white-haired old man
confidently leads the way
and together we discover
the ancient Gwion paintings
where, utterly enraptured
we meet those captured
on stone canvas of towering antiquity,
we contemplate the lives
laid out before our astonished eyes,
we hug, and watch the ancestors dance
in shades of ochre and joy
we see incredibly graceful figures
sway to music now silent

my people’s spirits are here,

in the rock shelters I feel the Elders

look out for me among our cultural sites

and ‘roo camps,

they visit in my dreams

and dance for me because

they’re glad I’ve come home

we talk about the lives
of those who lived here
who lit the fires, made dijeridoos
gave birth to their children
shared sorrows and laughter
heard – like we today – bats
squabble over roosting
preferences along the billabong,
listen to the dingos’ lamentation
in their nightly incantation under
a magnificent mellow moon

I feel so good when I’m here

this is where I need to be

at this important stopping place

where Kwini used to walk

along our song-line trails,

sing and dance the junba

when everyone knew it was our Maaba

who painted their stories

in our deep-time gallery,

I’m really glad we found this site

been looking for it all my life

after sundown around our camp fire
the old man’s stories come alive
as sweet scent of cypress logs
waft their welcome for him

last bush-born Kwini son
has finally come home

Two Ways to See: A Rock Art Research Journey by Ian Waina

This book shares how Traditional Owner, Ian Waina and the Kwini people, archaeologists and environmental scientists worked together, sharing traditional knowledge and scientific methods, to find out how long ago the Old People created the rock art on Balanggarra Country, East Kimberley.

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