---

---

Gunga Mät

My painting depicts a gunga mät (pandanus mat)

I learnt how to weave from my mother and during my time with the Crocodile Islands Junior Rangers.  I also learned how to make string bags, dilly bags, earrings and woven mats during a workshop for the

My mum taught me how to make baskets from pandanus using the coiling technique.  I would go out with the ladies and collect the middle part of the pandanus tree leaves using a wooden hook made from a long branch. Gunga (pandanus) leaves are very spiky. We strip off the spikes and split the leaves in two with our thumbnails. The gunga is then hung out in the sun to dry. Once dried, some gunga gets dyed with natural dyes using a myriad of roots, leaves and ashes. We make red, yellow, brown, purple, black and green.

We boil the gunga with the bush dyes and then hang and dry out. It’s a very time-consuming process. We use the processed gunga to weave lots of items. To make a mat, we have to start small and then work around the mat. Sometimes, the mats can be very big. Each artist has their own style. For example, some artists like leaving long tassels and others cut them shorter. Each weaver uniquely uses colour.

Making a pandanus mat requires much gunga, and we collect and process it daily! It’s a big job!   

I’ve been mostly a weaver but am now trying painting.  We might have a go at weaving in Wujal Wujal.