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Living off the land – Bow River
In most of Kathy’s painting, the subject of her artwork depicts the country and landscapes of her mothers country called Bow River – which is also known to be called by its traditional name Juwulunji.
In this painting Kathy has painted her mother and father together out on Bow River country, as seen here there are two people seen within the middle of her artwork, they both hold what appears to be digging sticks ” In the old days they use to go out looking and digging for echidna’s”
Her mother is described to be the women who sits on the ground and her father is the one seen standing up. The small white dots located just above the heads are what Kathy has describe as “all the blowflies” she says that when they are about and hanging around – this is a sign that the hairyman is near and watching. “Njoongoony (hairyman) he jelous for everything there la that country”
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Warrambany Of Warrman
WAC ~ Paintings floating
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GREENVALE STATION – KATHY RAMSAY
“This is that Greenvale now. Mum told me that that’s that Garrganny (water lily) place. They got a sharp rock there and all them pointy rocks.
Them round circles, them digging holes from the old, old people. They went looking for them things now, bush potatoes.”
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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 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Kilkayi Barramundi Dreaming
Three women trying to trap Dayiwul the great barramundi with spinifex nets. This is a traditional method of fishing where by nyiyirriny (river spinifex) is rolled and placed in the water forming a kind of net. Dayiwul was too clever for the women and jumped over the barrier they had laid. She pushed her body through the rock of what is now called Pitt Range. The women gave up and walked to a place called Gawinyji (Cattle Creek) where they turned into rocks.
The scales of Dayiwul embedded in the rock, became the diamonds that are extracted from the Argyle Diamond Mine.