During the mid-1970s a large number of Aboriginal workers were unjustly displaced from the cattle industry following an ' equal pay and conditions ' ruling , and this resulted in considerable financial hardship for these workers - a consequence that had not been intended by the government . Rover Thomas was one of those affected , and early in 1975 he came with his family to live in Warmun , close to Turkey Creek . At the time Warmun was a recently created township and it is still a comparatively small community . White-trunked river gums line the nearby river and the town itself consists of scattered houses located along dusty roads . Dry grassy plains surround the town and in the distance the horizon takes in purpleyellow hills which merge with the vast blue sky . It is a remote and under-populated region - these days the east Kimberley shows few signs of human habitation except for the occasional petrol station or abandoned church and the rumbling of passing trucks and semi-trailers . Warmun had been home to Rover Thomas and his family since the time of the ' relocation '. Most of his surviving relatives live in various communities along the Fitzroy Valley and in the desert around Kintore , but others live in the Northern Territory . As an artist Thomas was not restricted by tribal law to only depicting the sites relating to his mother ' s or father ' s ' countries '. He travelled extensively in the desert regions beyond Turkey Creek and painted his Dreamings from all of these places .
The art of Rover Thomas has its beginnings in a visionary dream sequence which occurred in 1975 , soon after the death of a female relative . Just prior to Christmas , 1974 , a Kija Wula woman who was Rover Thomas ' s ' classificatory mother ', was involved in a car accident at Wungkul , near Turkey Creek airstrip . The vehicle was travelling between Halls Creek and Dunham River Station and overturned on a flooded stretch of road . The injured woman was taken to Wyndham by road and was then flown by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Perth , but she died as the plane flew across the western Kimberley coastline . It was later revealed to Rover Thomas that she had died as the plane flew over the Tawurrkurima / Jintripul whirlpool near the coast of Derby - this whirlpool being the home of the Rainbow Serpent Juntarkal . Juntarkal is one of several Rainbow Snakes that are thought to enrich the lands of the Kimberley with their vital life-force .
The following year Rover Thomas received a number of visitations from the spirit of this deceased woman . During these visionary encounters - which took place while he was asleep - Thomas was given details of the Krill Krill ceremony which describes the journey of the deceased woman ' s spirit back to her conception site - from the whirlpool near the Derby coast back to Turkey Creek and then north to Kununurra . Thomas recalls how the spirit came :
That old woman bin passed away right there ... couldn ' t make it to Perth ... only the spirit bin come all the way down to me , Turkey Creek ... him bin ask me " What d ' you like , Wonga ? You want that Jarakul ? " I ' m bin say " That Krill Krill now "...( Wonga and Jarakul are different ceremonial dance-forms ).
In 1975 Thomas and his uncle , Paddy Tjamintji , introduced the Krill Krill song and dance cycles to the Warmun community . These dances utilised small spirit paintings which , in the beginning , were produced by Paddy Tjamintji . However , in 1981 Rover Thomas began to produce his own interpretations of the song cycle and he went on to develop an extensive body of works which encompassed both specific mythic imagery and depictions of the Kimberley landscape .