Ritjuruki
“My mother’s totem is Nori, which is the pelican, but the Willy Wagtail is the message bird. It brings stories, whether that is good news, bad news, trouble, it talks to us. For some groups it is a death-bird so they shoo it away, but for us it is a comfort”
“I know the differences with how they are communicating, I can hear it in the different chirping sounds. It’s a comfort because to me, it means that my mother is around – and that makes it a very spiritual bird.”
“he’s a hyper-vigilant little bird, he always knows what’s going on and he lets everyone know when things are happening around you. This is probably why people paid attention to this, in the same way that traditional people learned to read the other signs of nature. This has grown into a stronger spiritual connection because of this.”
“This is important because it teaches us to pay attention to what is happening around us, to listen for the clues that are present in nature, to respect and protect our natural world, and to draw spiritual connections to it.”
“Ritjuruki is the name for the Willy Wagtail in the Ngarrindjeri language”
Maxine Mackay
Barkindji, Ngarrindjeri
Painted Polished Stainless Steel
Designed by Andrew Hull
Fabricated by Wangstone Studio