Springvale
Springvale, a painting inspired by Peter’s mother (Mary Thomas- late) of her country in a design she used to paint.
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View of Country – Sevania Kemarre Bonney
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories, the artists paint their country where those stories sit.
Sevenia was born in Soakage Bore, Utopia and started to paint when she was teenager. She learnt the way to paint landscape and bush medicine from her grandmother Eileen Bonney, a former health worker and artist. Sevenia finds painting soothing and enjoys to share this activity with her kids so they can learn as she did with her grandmother.
Knowing your country is an important part of living in a remote community like Ampilatwatja. Knowing when and where to go hunting and gathering, knowing where there is ‘soakage’ (where you can dig for water), travelling with family for ceremonies, and maintaining a connection with the land.
“This is my country, my view of country.”
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Birnoo Country- Lorraine Daylight
This is a painting of Birnoo Country – Birnoo is on what is now known as Alice Downs Station and belonged to Lorraine’s paternal grandmother.
Lorraine was taught to paint this Country by her father, Warmun artist Gordon Barney.
Gordon was a skilled stockman, horsebreaker and buckjumper and spent much of his early adulthood mustering cattle through this Country. As a result he was intimately familiar with Birnoo and would take his family, including Lorraine, out on to Country during holidays from station work.
As a result of these trips Lorraine learned of her father and grandmother’s Country and gradually began to paint it herself. Birnoo was also rich in ochre, so these trips could double as ochre collection trips, returning to Warmun with a fresh connection to Country and a renewed batch of ochre.
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Kalumpuu – Spear
In Australia before teh first Europeans laid thier foo here (15th Century), our Dreamtime lives here for a very long time. This painting is on the North Australia WA ( The East Kimberley). It sits near Warrarmarn (Warmun). The painting lay into our ancestors country ( Kija Country) – (Warmun tribal language). The hill was named Kalumpuu (Spear). The Kalumpuu Platform has seen lots of our people (Kija). comes and gones. This painting Kalumpuu Hills, seeing our Laws and Cultures, ceremony, good and bad. The Kalumpuu saw lots of our Kija people looked after. The bad reason, Kalumpuu Hill has seen lots of the Kija people being murdered.
The big issue is to know more about the painting ( Kalumpuu Hill). If Kalumpuu Hill could only talk to us to today for more stories.
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Generations to Generations
Gija Women Skin Group Generations Mum side
From a mothers womb in Gija country teaching & learning about law & culture, painting stories about countries, dreamtime, bush medicine, bush tucker & also about massacres
passing it down from generations to generations
Nyuwurru – My Great Grandmother
Nangari – My Grandmother
Nangala – My Mum
Nyajarri – Me
My Daughter has the same skin name as my Great Grandmother. it goes back in circles.
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Balanak Country- Old Texas Down Station by Mark Nodea
This is my Mothers’ Country.
My mother was born and grew up this country, with her father & mother.Also back way back from her great grandparents
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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 Country.Kathy says:
“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.”
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Juwari- The Devil Spirit – by Peter Thomas
The Juwari is the Devil Spirit.
He is the power, force and spirit of creation iitself, and everything within it and within us He is the creation of country and the land, of the weather & seasons, of all the elements. He is the source of all forms of life and of death.
The Gija people present Rover Thomas’s dreamtime story, through performing the Joonba- A traditional dance and song ceremony called Gurrir Gurrir. Rover was given this dreamtime by the Juwari
This Gija story as told by senior Gija elder Patrick Mung and Cultural leader Jane Yalunga (Rover Thomas’s only daughter).
The story shares ‘there were three Juwari, from Wyndham side, from Gija country and down that way. Each one had a Joonba, it different each way. Them Juwari been fighting who is the strongest and who will bring them joonba to the Old man.
The Gija Juwari won and that was the start of the beginning, the birth of the corroboree and the Joonba- Gurrir Gurrir, as it is today’
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Texas Country- by April Nulgit
Located just north-east of Warmun Community, stands my Mothers country known as ‘Texas’.
It is a very beautiful and sacred location, amongst waterholes, dreamtime places. The beautiful scenery of the hills are my favorite to look at.
In my artwork, I wanted to portray the scenery of the hills & landscapes of Ngargaroon (Texas). These can be seen through the natural ochre pigments sich as pink, green, red, yellow & dark grey..
