October 2023

Warlawoon& Bow River Country – Kathy Ramsay

This painting represents two countries – Kathy’s dad’s country, Warlawoon, and her country where she grew up, Bow River.

One half is about the Warlawoon Country my dad Rammie Ramsay country my beautiful old artist dad who left his memory with me to carry on after him.

Trees

Camping areas

water holes

hills

and traditional stories of his mum and dad and their parents and so on he told me.

The other half is Bow River County.

My family has a strong history of this place. My grandfather Timmy Timms (Snr) named the dams here redrock damn, and the redrock itself called redrock and the damn near the hill is called marringarnji dam, meaning where dingos come to drink water with the horses and cattle.

My families has drovin’ histories and traditional stories both.

The road is called the old Wyndham road back in the early days. In nowadays it’s been graded.

My ancestors used to live anywhere here, at camping areas near the river beds. They used to live off the land eating kangaroo, porcupine, all sorts of bush foods.

We are so blessed God gave us boundaries to keep and to hold our future generation children to have and to hold.

Kangaroo Rock Dreaming (Norton Bore)

This is the kangaroo rock at Norton Bore. Old people would rub this rock when they wanted to go hunting and kangaroos would come out at Violet Valley and Norton Bore. If you go there now, you’ll see all of the kangaroos still around these places, all kinds of kangaroos, red kangaroos, ones with white chests.

These are two shelters made out of trees and leaves, when the old people were hunting they would hide in these shelters with their spears and when the kangaroos came they would spear them for feed. 

Cyclone Tracy – Jane Tinmarie-Yalunga

This is my old man’s [Rover Thomas] story about Cyclone Tracy in Darwin in 1974, two years after I was born.

Rover got his joonba, Goorirr Goorirr , from this Cyclone. Out near that store [Warmun’s Wungkul store] a woman had a crash and she went and visited my old man in a dream.

When I was first learning how to paint I was following my father and looking at him. I was looking after him and painting when he was at the old people home and I used to paint.

The Goorirr Goorirr was found by Rover in 1975, not long after the disastrous Cyclone Tracy had all but destroyed Darwin, the nearest large population centre to Turkey Creek. It came to him in his Dreams over period of time. As he shared the knowledge he had gained in this way, its significance was recognised. Out of this emerged the community celebration of Goorirr Goorirr. In the next few years Goorirr Goorirr was regularly performed at Turkey Creek and taken to other communities as well.

Argyle Diamond Mind Rehab

This painting is about the closure of Argyle mine – the right hand side depicts the devastation caused by the site, and the left hand side depicts how we would would like it to be rehabilitated for our future generations.

The current rehabilitation project started in 2020 and we can see some positive changes, however we know that our land will never be the same again.

Kilkayi Barramundi Dreaming

Kilkayi Barramundi Dreaming

Mistake Creek Massacre – Madeline Purdie

“This story what my old people told me. They told me that they were sleeping here now in this building. Old mister Radigan he as a policeman, white gardier policeman, white man. He was living in this house in the art centre (what’s known the green house). He was the sergeant and he had an employee, this employee was an aboriginal employee from Darwin somewhere. Somewhere that side, NT and this employee for him he went to mistake creek there, where this mob bin having their holiday camp. Everybody used to come to gather from different area out there and holiday camp there. At mistake creek they was having it this time. And all my old people ancestors and anyway… that employee for my Radigan bin trying have an affair with one of these ladies and she said no I already got husband, so he took a sulk. He got angry that she didn’t want to have an affair with him, so he took that pet cow – the police, they had a pet cow with a big bell on it. He took it long way behind that hill and hide it, he tied it up to a tree and he took the bell off the cow and bought it back to sergeant and he said “My boss look here them people there at that holiday camp la mistake creek here them kill you cow and they cooking it up!” but they was cooking kangaroo. They had kangaroo covered up. And he bin go and tell this boss liar and this boss and ‘im bin go back and shoot all them people there… at mistake creek they just go an kill the lot. And they was waiting for their dinner to be cook. Then after he killed them he opened them thing to find that they was cooking five kangaroo’s in there, all that kangaroo. And so all that thing now they just chucked them in the fire. Burnt them. Burnt all the remains for our people them old people that them kill.” – Madeline Purdie

WINUBA – EVELYN MALGIL

‘This is my family place. Hot water spring and cold water spring. That big hill on the background is my family place. That water live all year ’round. That little sand frog, it live for a long time.’ This place is the Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) site for the sand frog. The waterhole at Winuba holds water all through the Dry season.

WINUBA – EVELYN MALGIL

‘This is my family place. Hot water spring and cold water spring. That big hill on the background is my family place. That water live all year ’round. That little sand frog, it live for a long time.’ This place is the Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) site for the sand frog. The waterhole at Winuba holds water all through the Dry season.