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An Aboriginal woman collecting water in a dish at Erliwunjawunja rockhole, Musgrave Ranges. A digging stick [wana] and a flat grindstone [tjiwa] are placed nearby.

Mountford featured this image in his book Australian Aboriginal Portraits, writing:

The Food-gathering Equipment of a Desert Woman
Tilbukuna was taking water from the Erliwunyawunya rockhole. By her side was the entire food-gathering equipment of the aboriginal woman, consisting of wooden dishes, a flat lower and a ball-shaped upper grinding stone, and a digging stick.
The dishes were used for carrying food from place to place, the stones to grind the grass seeds into a coarse flour, and the digging stick, made from a mulga stake and sharpened to a chisel point in the fire, for unearthing tubers and small creatures. (p. 44)

Mountford, Charles P. (Charles Pearcy), 1890-1976

Lamshed, Max. 'Monty' : the biography of C.P. Mountford, [Adelaide] : Rigby, 1972

James, Diana. Painting the song : Kaltjiti artists of the sand dune country, Fitzroy, Vic. : McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books, 2009

Mountford, Charles, P. Australian Aboriginal Portraits, Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 1967

Mountford, Charles, P. Brown men and red sand : journeyings in wild Australia, London ; Sydney : Angus & Robertson, 1981, c1948

Ara Irititja Project