Skin names denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans.[1][2]
Individuals of the Napaljarri skin group (together with its male equivalent, Tjapaljarri) will be either owners (kurdu) or managers (kurdungurlu) of particular 'dreaming' sites. If they are the owners, then the managers will be from the Napurrurla / Tjupurrula skin name group, and vice versa.[3]
Dreamings are associated with particular skin names and individuals. Jimmy Jungurrayi relates the story Patilirrikirli, a budgerigar dreaming associated with a location called Patilirri. This dreaming is specific to the Napaljarri / Tjapaljarri and Nungarrayi / Jungarrayi pairings of skin names.[4] Dreamings associated with the Napaljarri women at Yuendumu include budgerigar, bush onion, witchetty grub and honey ant. These have been portrayed in paintings by artists such as Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy and Helen Nelson Napaljarri.[3]
^De Brabander, Dallas (1994). "Sections". In David Horton (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia. Vol. 2. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. p. 977. ISBN978-0-85575-234-7.
^ abJohnson, Vivien (1994). "Appendix B: Artist's Dreamings – Yuendumu". Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary. Roseville East, NSW: Craftsman House. pp. 220–224.
^Jungurrayi, Jimmy (2003). "Patilirrikirli: About Patilirri". In Peggy Rockman Napaljarri, Lee Cataldi (ed.). Warlpiri dreamings and histories. Rowman Altamira. pp. 93–104. ISBN0-7619-8992-7.
^Johnson, Vivien (1994). Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary. Roseville East, NSW: Craftsman House. p. 188.
^Johnson, Vivien (2008). Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists. Alice Springs, NT: IAD Press. p. 305.
^Johnson, Vivien (2008). Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists. Alice Springs, NT: IAD Press. p. 297.
^Johnson, Vivien (1996). Dreamings of the Desert: Aboriginal paintings of the Western Desert. Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia. ISBN0-7308-3065-9.
^Birnberg, Margo; Janusz Kreczmanski (2004). Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region. Marleston, South Australia: J.B. Publishing. p. 219. ISBN1-876622-47-4.