Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community LaGrange Inc

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Kulyakartu

This painting is about all the rocks and kurru (creeks) all around Kulyakartu and Kirriwirri.

We went camping there for to two weeks, we went to Wirnpa first and then to Kirriwirri. We camped in the nice flat ground in the open when we got to Kulyakartu. We visited the waterholes and soaks, cleaned them out, and made sure there were no dead animals. It was typical ranger work—making sure the animals and Country were surviving. We listened to Muuki and my grandfather talk about how they walked around trying to find waterholes, how my grandfather finally came to Bidyadanga, and how he met my grandmother.

I painted these paintings at home in Bidyadanga, near the ocean. The paintings are of Kulyakartu, which is in the Great Sandy Desert. There is a lot of spinifex, sandhills, wildlife, and little flowers like frangipanis—blue, red, and pink flowers just along the road when you’re driving.

When I’m not in the desert, I feel like I want to paint about it, and painting makes me feel like I want to be there. I think about Muuki and his brothers’ wishes for us to see the Country and be there. It’s important to paint about the Country because our Elders looked after the Country long before us.

When you look out of a plane, you can see lots of different colours, but I chose blues and greens because that’s how I want to express how I see the landscape.

When people see my paintings, they might say, “That could be the ocean,” but I say, “No, that’s Kulyakartu, the desert.” Blues and greens make me feel comfortable. For me, I like to keep colours separate and not mix them together.

Kulyakartu

This painting is about all the rocks and kurru (creeks) all around Kulyakartu and Kirriwirri.

We went camping there for to two weeks, we went to Wirnpa first and then to Kirriwirri. We camped in the nice flat ground in the open when we got to Kulyakartu. We visited the waterholes and soaks, cleaned them out, and made sure there were no dead animals. It was typical ranger work—making sure the animals and Country were surviving. We listened to Muuki and my grandfather talk about how they walked around trying to find waterholes, how my grandfather finally came to Bidyadanga, and how he met my grandmother.

I painted these paintings at home in Bidyadanga, near the ocean. The paintings are of Kulyakartu, which is in the Great Sandy Desert. There is a lot of spinifex, sandhills, wildlife, and little flowers like frangipanis—blue, red, and pink flowers just along the road when you’re driving.

When I’m not in the desert, I feel like I want to paint about it, and painting makes me feel like I want to be there. I think about Muuki and his brothers’ wishes for us to see the Country and be there. It’s important to paint about the Country because our Elders looked after the Country long before us.

When you look out of a plane, you can see lots of different colours, but I chose blues and greens because that’s how I want to express how I see the landscape.

When people see my paintings, they might say, “That could be the ocean,” but I say, “No, that’s Kulyakartu, the desert.” Blues and greens make me feel comfortable. For me, I like to keep colours separate and not mix them together.

Mangala Country

I paint Mangala Country because my family are Mangala people and they are the last bush people to come out from the bush. This place I paint is Mangala Country where my mum and family drank water in these places. They camped around, hunting and gathering food around this country, Matuku and Pikarangu. That’s what inspired me to paint country, to see country with my old people. That’s my story. 

– Lindsay Bal Bal

Kirriwirri

“This place is where my family is from, the Great Sandy Desert. My Mum’s family side. It’s a painting about Kirriwirri—north of Punmu—it’s Kulyukartu Country, my Great Grandmother’s Country. My mum, for mum, for Country and her family. Through stories, I learned to paint this soak (natural spring). I want to go there one day, maybe with KJ (Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa Rangers). I’ve been in other places in Kulyukartu, but not that one. I learned how to paint this place from my old people there. I saw my grandfather (Wokka Taylor) paint, and I started doing his painting (his style). He gave me permission, and that’s why I paint this way. When I paint, I think about my families—the old people. This painting I call Kirriwirri, that’s the soak.”
— Wilson Junior Mandijalu

Kirriwirri near well 33 on the Canning stock route in the Great Sandy Desert.

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