Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community LaGrange Inc

Sealife

“All the fish – barramundi, salmon, dugong, turtle and jellyfish. I paint what I see and eat. Fish of the sea. I paint the right season for them, so if something is in season, I paint it. The threadfin salmon and blue nose salmon come in wintertime. Barramundi is in the hot time, when the jellyfish come out. Dugong is after the rainy season.

I am a ranger and I look after the land and the sea. When it’s hot season, we see jellyfish on the sand and beach – that means it’s the right time for hunting turtles. They’re fat from eating the seagrass and jellyfish. When we see the yellow flowers (wattle) blooming, we know the barramundi are good for catching.

The barramundi stole the pearl shells from the desert and made the creek called Waru Creek, near 80 Mile Beach. There are old fishing camps down that way, and we go with the rangers to do salmon surveys and monitor how healthy they are. When you see the flying clouds and the full moon, it’s the right time for turtle nesting and turtle monitoring. In June and July, they lay their eggs.”

– Elliot Hunter

Elliot is also a Nyangumarta Ranger, working to protect both land and sea. Nyangumarta Country stretches across the coastline and inland desert of the northwest, from 80 Mile Beach through the Great Sandy Desert. It is a vast landscape of red sand dunes, claypans, salt marshes, and long stretches of coastal waters rich with sealife. Fishing is not only part of Elliot’s everyday life but also an important cultural practice that connects him to Country and community. Through his paintings, he brings together his knowledge as a ranger and his lived experience of fishing, showing how the seasons guide when and what to hunt. His artworks celebrate the richness of sea life while sharing stories that have been passed down.

Untitled

Nyurnma (burnt country)

This painting is about the landscape, bushfire (waru), and bush foods. Seeing the difference after the waru burns, it leaves some patches on the ground, and when the regrowth of the bush plants come back to life, it leaves a mark.

Well, I learnt that story from my grandmother—going out bush, learning about the different sides of burning. Talking about before burning and after burning, and how people go hunting after burning, looking for goanna. Teaching the younger generation where and when to hunt for goanna.

I learnt painting from my grandmother (Nola Taylor) and my grandfathers (Muuki Taylor, Wokka Taylor) by going out on Country, sharing stories, and learning from them about bush plants and bush food. I painted before, but going to Parnngurr and being around old people really opened my mind—seeing them paint and the colours they used. My daughter started painting with the old people too, and now she watches me paint their stories. I’d like to be an inspiration to her and to young people.

My Black Soil Country

This painting is of Ngarrawanji which is black soil country grass and rocky country which gets really boggy when it is wet.

“I paint it in different colours but it always goes back to my Black Soil Country, we’ve got a lot of black soil country through t our country, once you’re in it you can get stuck in it, I remember being stuck in black soil country as had incidents even after being told not to go there, because of me having encounters on black soil country I can recollect my times on my country, they would say don’t go that way, that’s black soil country! but sometimes there is only one road. It pays a big part in me, that’s what I think about in my country, that black soil”

Untitled

My Black Soil Country

This painting is of Ngarrawanji which is black soil country grass and rocky country which gets really boggy when it is wet.

“I paint it in different colours but it always goes back to my Black Soil Country, we’ve got a lot of black soil country through t our country, once you’re in it you can get stuck in it, I remember being stuck in black soil country as had incidents even after being told not to go there, because of me having encounters on black soil country I can recollect my times on my country, they would say don’t go that way, that’s black soil country! but sometimes there is only one road. It pays a big part in me, that’s what I think about in my country, that black soil”

My Black Soil Country

This painting is of Ngarrawanji which is black soil country grass and rocky country which gets really boggy when it is wet.

“I paint it in different colours but it always goes back to my Black Soil Country, we’ve got a lot of black soil country through t our country, once you’re in it you can get stuck in it, I remember being stuck in black soil country as had incidents even after being told not to go there, because of me having encounters on black soil country I can recollect my times on my country, they would say don’t go that way, that’s black soil country! but sometimes there is only one road. It pays a big part in me, that’s what I think about in my country, that black soil”

Untitled

My Black Soil Country

This painting is of Ngarrawanji which is black soil country grass and rocky country which gets really boggy when it is wet.

“I paint it in different colours but it always goes back to my Black Soil Country, we’ve got a lot of black soil country through t our country, once you’re in it you can get stuck in it, I remember being stuck in black soil country as had incidents even after being told not to go there, because of me having encounters on black soil country I can recollect my times on my country, they would say don’t go that way, that’s black soil country! but sometimes there is only one road. It pays a big part in me, that’s what I think about in my country, that black soil”

Wirnpa Area

It’s all about back home, all through Wirnpa in the Percival lakes regions. Back and forwards in the hunting ground and passing through the big hills. Meeting other family in that area to where my great grandfather was walking through and my Nanna Yikartu Bumba, she was there then back in the old days when old lady Weaver Jack was there. I see Yikartu painting, it is a similar area but different style.  I am always inspired by her, she tells us a lot of stories from back home when she was young and hunting all around that area. Weaver Jack was also telling me lots of stories for that area, she was a good artist, I call her like a daughter (Martu way).

All through Wirnpa in the Percival lakes regions. Back and forwards in the hunting ground and passing through the big hills. Meeting other family in that area to.