One group of old men, including the Kangaroo ancestor man, had been on a journey over the desert, teaching law and ceremony to people living at isolated camps, and came and camped at a waterhole.
Late in the afternoon the men prepared the camp and cleared ground for the ceremony. In preparation for the ceremony the spinifex grass is burnt which produces white ash. The ashes are then mixed with kangaroo or emu fat and the colour is used for body painting. The ceremony starts after dark and continues till the early hours in the morning.
During the ceremony the Rock Wallaby and Perentie men dance and sit around the ceremonial site, chanting song titles which tell the journeys of the ancestors. They then become one of the totems.
In this painting Michael has depicted the Kangaroo ancestor which is shown as kangaroo tracks travelling to various ceremonial sites and water holes (circles). This Dreaming has been inherited from Michael's Grandfather.
