April 2026

Dragonfly

Stingray

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment.

Kubumi (Anniebell Marrngamarrnga)

Kubumi is a sacred site on the Mann River. Anniebell Marrngamarrnga is the Djungkay (ritual manager) of this place, her mother’s country.

In the creation time, Ngalyod (the Rainbow Serpent) pierced the rock at a place called Bolerrhlerrh and journeyed downstream from there to Ngalmalanj, where the serpent was blocked. She pushed down into the riverbed, pushed into the earth, sinking down forever. Now she lives under the rocky riverbed.

The camping place Kubumi is downstream from Ngalmalanj. During the dry season, the Mann River shrinks to a chain of deep waterholes, exposing the tunnels through the rocky outcrop that interconnect the pools. At Kubumi live the Ngalkunburriyaymi, mermaid-like water spirits. In the distant past, they camped on the sand and were attracted to the freshwater, swimming there. Ngalyod, the Raibow Serpent, pulled them into the ground, through the rock holes.

Today they live within the river; at times they leave their aquatic homes to walk about on dry land, particularly at night. Sometimes they are called ngalberddjenj, which literally means ‘the woman who has a tail like a fish’. Their long hair is associated with trailing blooms of man-bak (green aglae) found in freshwater streams and rock pools.

Known for her intricately woven Yawkyawk and other figurative ancestral forms, Anniebell expands her practice in this work to encompass Kubumi itself — presenting the sacred site as a living, inhabited landscape shaped by Birlmu (barramundi), Nawarlah (brown river stingray), and the Ngalkunburriyaymi.

Nawarlah – Brown River Stingray

We hunt the Nawarlah (Brown River Stingray) during the wet season.  There is a plant with a yellow flower that tells us that it is the right time.  We know it will be fat. 

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment.