Ngayulu manta pampura kulinu tjukurpa ngayuku tjiti munu tjamu kami

When I touched the ground – stories for my children and grandchildren

Ngayulu manta pampura kulinu tjukurpa ngayuku tjiti munu tjamu kami

When I touched the ground –stories for my children and grandchildren

By Nyurpaya Kaika Burton
Produced by Nyurpaya Kaika Burton and Caddie Brain

Nyurpaya Kaika Burton is a senior artist and longtime director of Tjala Arts. She was born deep in the desert of Central Australia. Her mother travelled hundreds of miles barefoot before giving birth alone at a massive desert mesa called Atila - a place which became her spiritual country.

She is one of the few remaining poetic speakers of Pitjantjatjara, a traditional Indigenous language of Central Australia’s remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. There were once more than 400 traditional languages spoken across the Australian continent, but only around 13 are still spoken by children - all threatened by early policies banning Aboriginal people from speaking their languages and the ongoing forces of colonisiation.

At the age of 70, Nyurpaya decided to share this deeply personal story of her birth, revealing, for the first time, the traditional birthing methods that have helped define her cultural life. Telling this story is part of her continuous work to protect her ancient culture, and to ensure that future generations can speak the language it lives in.