This painting is of my mother and father’s country called Lumpu Lumpu. It is between Christmas Creek Station and Cherrabun Station. Before I was born my family lived around this area. It is good rocky country. There is good living water here. It is a sad place for me too. My father was killed here at Lumpu Lumpu.
Name: Daisy (Dec) Andrews
Biography:
I was born at the creek near the homestead on Cherrabun Station. I grew up at the station. My father used to work there. Sometimes he would run away with us kids and his three wives. When this happened the police would come and pick us up.
One time they put chains around his neck and made him walk from Cherrabun to Bayulu and from
Bayulu to the police station at the Old Crossing in Fitzroy. He was chained to a tree with some of the other men. I saw them with my own eyes. We camped near the police station because my father was there. I learnt to work on the station cleaning and cooking. We used to work for tea, sugar, ?our, tobacco, blankets and clothes to wear.
My father went to pick up families that were taken from their country by the police and Aboriginal trackers. People used to cry for their country but we told them, “don’t cry, think about your country”. When I paint I think a lot about my mother and father when they were living in the desert.
I went to visit my mother and father’s country. I was feeling sad, it made me sorry. When I ?rst went to Kaningarra I didn’t know that place. They told me, “you should go and see your parent’s country”. I was really broken in my heart. I was really sad. I knew all of my family had been there. I ?rst went when I was an old woman.
From Kaningarra they travelled right up to Lake Gregory. When I went there I was thinking to myself, “why am I going to see this country?” I was very sad just travelling and looking at this beautiful country. I was crying at Kaningarra. People were killed there, policemen killed the people. That’s why my parents left. I didn’t see my grandparents. They came in from the desert and died at Kurungal [Christmas Creek Station]. I knew that country in my mind from my brother Boxer. The people were too frightened to go there. They were shooting them. They shot one old man there, right in the open. I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I saw that place. They should have shown me that country when I was a young girl, not now I am old with grey hair. That country is empty now. It made me cry. I tell you I was just upset. I didn’t say anything, I just stood there and looked at that country. That waterhole where they had been living. When I went there I was just standing. I sat down and just looked. That old man Alec was telling me, “this is the place where we used to play” [hold ceremonies]. People came from everywhere. Nobody is there anymore
When I draw my pictures I am seeing that country in my head. Looking at those sandhills, ?owers, everything was very good. When I am painting I tell my grandkids these stories. I tell them that next time they will come and visit this country. I like to take these paintings to the city. I want to tell my story for this country. I think hard when I look at my country. I think how I have to paint it. I look and see what to paint.
At ?rst I didn’t know that I came from the desert. We were all here together, Gooniyandi, Walmajarri and Bunuba. We are really Walmajarri. My husband was Bunuba. People used to tease me and say, “how did you come to love him?” I would tell them, “it’s just love, young days love, that’s all.” He spoke my language too. When we were married we moved between Leopold and Brooking Springs Stations. He looked after me properly. That’s why I don’t want to leave Bunuba people. They have looked after me properly.
PAINTING THEMES:
Lumpu Lumpu
Kaningarra waterhole on the Canning Stock Route
Karinny Karinny hill near Old Cherrabun Station
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2008 | Remembering Lumpu Lumpu and Karriny Karriny | Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC |
2005 | Turlpu Ngajukura Jangka [From My Heart] | Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC |
2004 | New Work | Gad?y Gallery, Perth, VIC |
2004 | The Melbourne Art Fair | Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC |
2003 | Recent Works | Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC |
2001 | Landscapes | Artplace Gallery, Perth, WA |
2001 | All About Art | Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC |
1998 | Parranga | Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
1997 | Wet Time | Australian Perspectives, Brisbane, QLD |
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2014 In the Saddle On the Wall – KAA Notre Dame University, Broome, WA
2014 In the Saddle On the Wall – KAA Warringarri Art Gallery, Kununurra, WA
2013 | A study of the Figurative in Desert painting | Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA |
2012 | Mangkaja Arts 21 Year Anniversary Wirrinyiya ngaragngarag birra ngamoo ngamoo | Tandanya, Adelaide, SA |
2011 | Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair | DAAF, Darwin |
2009 | Sharing Difference on Common Ground | Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth, WA and Kimberley Aboriginal Artists |
2009 | Celebrating Country: Kinship and Culture | Seymour College, Glen Osmond, SA |
2009 | Senior Artists from Fitzroy Crossing | Suzanne O’Connell Gallery, Brisbane, QLD |
2009 | Mangkaja Survey Show | Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA |
2009 | Margaret River Meets Fitzroy Crossing | Tunbridge Gallery, Margaret River, WA |
2008 | 25th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory |
2007 | 24th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory |
2007 | Women Artists of Fitzroy Crossing | Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT |
2006 | Divas of the Desert | Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT |
2006 | Mangkaja Group Show | Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
2005 | Too Much Good Work | Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT |
2005 | 22nd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory |
2005 | All About Art | Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, at Shapiro Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
2004 | The Art of Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Artists | POSCO Art Museum , Korea |
2004 | This is Still My Country:10 years on | Perth International Arts Fair/Artplace, Perth, WA |
2004 | Ngurrara Canvas | Perth Concert Hall, Perth, WA |
2004 | ON TRACK: Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Western Australia | Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia |
2003 | Parrangka and Yitilal [Dry and Wet] | Cullity Gallery, University of Western Australia |
2003 | Fitzroy Fusions | Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT |
2002 | Group Show | Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne Festival, VIC |
2002 | Recent works from Mangkaja Arts | Short St Gallery, Broome, WA |
2002 | Short on Size | Short St Gallery, Broome, WA |
2001 | Ngurrara Canvas | National Gallery of Australia, ACT |
2001 | Short on Size | Short St Gallery, Broome, WA |
2001 | 18th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory |
2001 | Mangkaja Arts Ten Years On Mangkaja’s 10 year Anniversary Show | Tandanya, Adelaide, SA |
2001 | Past Modern, Australia Square | Short St Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
2001 | Fitzroy Women | Short St Gallery, Broome, WA |
2000 | Noumea-Paci?que 2000 | Biennale D’Art Contemporain de Noumea |
2000 | Women’s Work | Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
2000 | Past Modern, Australia Square | Short St Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
2000 | Short on Size | Short St Gallery, Broome, WA |
2000 | Transitions Seventeen Years of the NT | Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory |
2000 | 17th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | National Tour |
1999 | Ngurrara Paintings of Country Story Boards | Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA |
1999 | Ceramic Tiles from the Kimberley | Fremantle Art Centre 9, WA |
1999 | Short on Size | Short St Gallery, Broome, WA |
1999 | 15th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | National Tour |
1998 | Mangkaja | Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London |
1998 | 16th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | National Tour |
1997 | 14th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory |
1997 | Heritage Commission Art Award | Old Parliament House, Canberra, ACT |
1996 | Group Show | Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
1996 | 14th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | National Tour |
1996 | Heritage Commission Art Award | Old Parliament House, Canberra, ACT |
1995 | Kimberley Art | Melbourne, VIC |
1995 | Group Show | Australian Perspectives Gallery, Brisbane, QLD |
1995 | Mangkaja; Old Mangkaja New Prints | Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, VIC |
1995 | 12th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | National Tour |
1994 | Bush Women | Fremantle Art Centre, WA |
1994 | Ngajakurra Ngurrara Minyarti [This Is My Country] | Festival Of Perth Exhibition, Artplace, WA |
1994 | 11th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award | National Tour |
1993 | Mangkaja Women | Fremantle Art Centre, WA |
| Images of Power: Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley | National Gallery, VIC |
1992 | Group Show | Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW |
1991 | Karrayili | Tandanya, National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA |
AWARDS:
1996: Western Australian Opera, 12mx1m Landscape for the production of “Alcina”
1994: 11th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Telecom Australia First Prize
PUBLIC ART:
2008: Fitzroy Valley Education Centre – panels project
2008: Fitzroy Crossing Hospital - paintings on canvas
COLLECTIONS:
Australian National Gallery National Museum of Australia National Gallery of Victoria
Telstra Collection, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
North Australian Research Unit, ANU Queensland Art Gallery
Karrayili Adult Education Centre Berndt Museum, University of WA Leg Assembly of WA
Fitzroy Crossing High School
Fitzroy Crossing Hospital
Brian Tucker Private Collection
Charles Darwin University, NT
PUBLICATIONS:
2009: Kimberley Aboriginal Artists
Sharing Difference on Common Ground
2009: FORM and the National Museum of Australia
Canning Stock Route Project: Ngurra Kuju Walyja [One Country One People]
2008: A collaboration between Brian Tucker, Grif?th University, Logan Art Gallery & Redcliffe City Gallery
Accounting for the Collector: An exhibition across two sites.
2007: FORM and the National Museum of Australia
The Canning Stock Route Project
2007: Art Gallery NSW
One Sun One Moon, Aboriginal Art in Australia
2004: University of Western Australia / Berndt Museum of Anthropology
ON TRACK: Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Western Australia
2003: Exhibition Catalogue:
Cullity Gallery UWA Perth / Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency
Martuwarra and Jila [River and Desert]
2001: Museum & Galleries of the NT
18th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
2000: Oxford University Press & ANU
Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture / Ngurrara Entry
2000: Museum & Galleries of the NT
Transitions 17 Years of the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
2000: IATSIS Canberra
Karrayili: The history of Karrayili Adult Education Centre
2000: National Aboriginal Cultural Institute - Tandanya
Painting Up Big, The Ngurrara Canvas, Kaltja Now
1996: Exhibition catalogue
Minyarti Wangki Ngajukura Ngurrarajangka [This is the word from my country]
1996: Kimberley Language Resource Centre
Moola Bulla: In the Shadow of the Mountain
1995: Exhibition catalogue: Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency
Mangkaja: Old Mangkaja, New Prints
1995: Exhibition catalogue
12th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
1994: Exhibition Catalogue
Ngajakura Ngurrara Minyarti, This Is My Country
1994: Exhibition catalogue
Bush Women
1993: Exhibition catalogue, Fremantle Art Centre
Mangkaja Women
1993: National Gallery of Victoria
Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberleys
1991: Exhibition catalogue
Karrayili; 10 years on
Jungkut Billabong “This is next to Tarpu Jila this billabong. When raining time this place fills up with ngapa (water) every year I come back here and camp in the Jilji and go hunting and Read more…
