Australian
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an NFSA website

Tennant Creek – Sacred Dances (1999)

play May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
clip Strong spirit

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Over shots of landscape, an elder named Napanangka tells us about Moonga Moonga, a strong spirit who makes children from other cultures sick, and that 'he is bad and cheeky to people from other countries’. In order to sing these songs, the elders tell us that they must be good.

Curator’s notes

Elder Napanangka tells us about the songs and dances of this particular country. We begin to get an understanding that this land is alive and requires management through dances and songs. When Napanangka tells us that people from ‘other countries’ might get sick, she is referring to anyone who is not from this place.