Two men were talking. One aboriginal man, Japaljarri. One white man, Craig. They were looking at a painting about Parma, Wama, Ngkwarle.

They were thinking about these things. What they said went something like this:

Japaljarri said.- "Aboriginal people have the story for Parma Ngkwarle, for 'Sugarbag', Honey Ant and the other strong, sweet foods from our country. Grog is a European story. You made it first and you brought it. You made the grog and you sell it to aboriginal people but you do not pass on the story that goes with it. You did not tell us the Tjukurrpa for grog. Grog is powerful, to control it we have to know the Tjukurrpa. Is this true ? "

Craig said:- "Yes Japaljarri, we made grog in the beginning, beer, wine, whisky, rum. It all comes from fruit and seeds and sugar. Your people have Tjukurrpa and ceremony to make the sweet foods grow but our old people had the stories for alcohol, for drinking and for drunks. They had stories about the spirit that gets inside people when they drink. Maybe our old people have the story that you are talking about. The stories to show how to make alcohol and the stories to show how to respect it and handle that dangerous spirit."

"Well", said Japaljarri, " Maybe you should hand it over "

"Alright Japaljarri, I'll look around and find those stories. When I've found the right one and know it properly I'll come back and sit down with you and show you."

And that is what happened.

When Craig came back he came back with the Sugarman Story

He took it back to show Japaljarri and then he took it to Intjartnama.

The family worked on it there. They made a long painting with coloured ink.

Barry said. "We'll work on this story. It makes sense. It might take us long time to get it straight but we'll do it. This story holds the law for drinking."

This story we tell you now is the Sugarman Story.