Bamurruŋu

Artist Wukun Waṉambi (1962)

Date2001

Object number00033840

NameBark painting

MediumNatural pigments on bark

DimensionsOverall: 1460 × 905 mm, 5.1 g

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with the assistance of Stephen Grant of the GrantPirrie Gallery

Collections

Gapu-Monuk ~ Saltwater

Terms

DescriptionThis painting portrays the sacred rock Bamurruŋu in Trial Bay, East Arnhem Land. The granite rock is coloured white from the guano of roosting birds and is surrounded by Garrawana or Oval Spot Coral fish. These fish were once people of the stone country. The artist has used white cross hatching marks on the side panels and bottom of the painting to represent the turbulent waters and coral spawn in Trial Bay.HistoryThe Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land inhabit a landscape that was formed by the actions of ancestral beings, who can take both human and animal form. For instance water now flows where these creatures walked and hills have formed where they died. Ancestral time is not just in the past but also the present and future. In light of this the sacred landscape and stories of East Arnhem Land are central to the Yolŋu people’s way of life and prominent themes in their bark paintings. The Saltwater Project began in 1996 when an illegal fishing camp was discovered at Garraŋali, a sacred Aboriginal site in East Arnhem Land. This sacred area is home to the ancestral crocodile Bäru and found among the litter of the illegal camp was the severed head of a crocodile. This discovery prompted the local Yolnu people to produce a series of bark paintings that expressed the rules, philosophies and stories of their region. The project culminated in the production of 80 barks and allowed the Indigenous community to educate others about the social history, geography and personal stories of their traditional homeland. They stressed the importance of Yolŋu land ownership, laws and codes of behaviour for those who interacted with the landscape and sacred Indigenous places. The Yolŋu have been involved in the land rights struggle since the 1960s. They currently are recognised as the traditional owners of northeast Arnhem Land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. This act was passed in the Northern Territory in 1976 and is seen as the benchmark in the recognition of Aboriginal land ownership in Australia. Despite this the issues of Indigenous land ownership, rights, customs and law continue to be contentious in the Australian legal system and wider community.SignificanceThis painting portrays a story related to the people of the Dhuwa moiety of the Marrakulu clan in the homeland of Gurra'wuy. It is one of 80 paintings produced by the Yolŋu people to express their stories, land rights and laws.