Old Spirit of the Sea

Artist Laurel Nannup (1943)

Printer Australian Print Workshop Inc (Australian)

Date2006

Object number00045078

NameEtching

MediumPaper (Velin Arches 250gsm), ink

DimensionsOverall: 760 x 560 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Terms

DescriptionThis brown etching features a Dutch ship with bird shaped sails and a flag flying from its mast. Two Aboriginal figures are holding spears, with a shelter and fire in the foreground. Artist's statement: 'The Duyfken in 1606 was the first ship to sail to what is now called Australia. Commander Willem Janszoon sailed down south of the west coast of Cape York for 200 miles. The sailor's first encounter with the Aboriginal people was not friendly, the crew was attacked and being short of supplies Janszoon decided to turn back. One could only guess what the Aboriginals thought when they saw the big white sails of the Duyfken; the sails would have looked like a big white bird, and the sailors, being white, would have made the Aboriginal people think it was their ancestors' spirits coming back from the dead.' This print is one of 10 in the DUYFKEN Aboriginal Print Portfolio and is presented as a boxed set. The series was launched in Sydney on 28 October 2006 by Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.HistoryIn 1606, Willem Janszoon commanded the DUYFKEN in Australia's northern waters, searching for proof that the country would be a good trading partner with the vast VOC - Dutch United East India Company. The west coast of Cape York Peninsula became the first documented landing of Europeans on the Australian mainland, although Janszoon concluded that there would be little prospect of trade. This print is part of the DUYFKEN Aboriginal Print Portfolio, a collaboration between the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Australian Print Workshop (APW) in Fitzroy, Melbourne. In July 2006, ten of Australia's talented and emerging Indigenous artists were brought to Melbourne to take part in APW's printmaking workshop. The theme of the portfolio is 'first encounters' and the title takes its name from the first Dutch ship to land on Australian shores. The artists were chosen to represent the regions visited by the Dutch to produce a permanent record of the 400 years of Dutch contact with Australia. These regions include Melville Island, Arnhem Land, Cape York, Western Australia and Tasmania. Techniques used include photo-lithograph, linocut and hard-ground etchings The portfolio was sponsored by Forbo Flooring, Rabobank Australia, Rio Tinto Aluminium and Wesfarmers Arts and is limited to 50 numbered copies plus five artist's proofs, two APW proofs and two Presentation proofs.SignificanceThis print, along with the complete DUYFKEN Aboriginal Print Portfolio, is an important representation of Indigenous reactions to the first documented landing of Europeans on the Australian mainland; 400 years on, this portfolio was produced to commemorate the enduring maritime link between the Netherlands and Australia. The artists were selected from a variety of regions that had early interactions with the Dutch, in order to acknowledge the varying experiences Aboriginal peoples of Australia had of early European contact.