Maningrida Arts & Culture

Gnarr (spider)

Morning Star The ceremony known throughout Arnhem Land generically as Marradjiri is a ceremony of diplomacy given by one group to another to establish good relations and to strengthen kinship (for example by marriage) and economic ties (for example the sharing of clan estate resources). The central object in the Read more…

Burarr (Water goanna) Bark paintings have a long cultural tradition, believed to extend back many thousands of years. In northern Australia, the walls of bark shelters in the Kimberley and Arnhem Land may well have been painted to convey and illustrate stories in the same way that rock shelters were. Bark painters in the Read more…

Morning Star Pole The ceremony known throughout Arnhem Land generically as Marradjiri is a ceremony of diplomacy given by one group to another to establish good relations and to strengthen kinship (for example by marriage) and economic ties (for example the sharing of clan estate resources). The central object in Read more…

Gnarr (spider)

Ngokngok (Owl) Ngokngok or mun-ngokngok is the Southern Boobook owl. Their clan is Warrawarra and the are connected to traditional healers.  

Jayma (Queenfish) Bark paintings have a long cultural tradition, believed to extend back many thousands of years. In northern Australia, the walls of bark shelters in the Kimberley and Arnhem Land may well have been painted to convey and illustrate stories in the same way that rock shelters were. Bark painters in the Maningrida Read more…

Ngokngok (Owl) Ngokngok or mun-ngokngok is the Southern Boobook owl. Their clan is Warrawarra and the are connected to traditional healers.  

Rajarra (Barramundi) Rajarra (barramundi in Burarra language), is an important food source in this region. These fish are caught throughout the artist’s clan estate, either in fishtraps woven from pandanus or sedge grass, or else hunted with spears and fishing lines in billabongs and streams where they shelter from the Read more…

Burlupurr – dillybag Burlupurr, or dilly bag, is usually a large woven collecting basket. These large bags are often made from the vine ‘Malasia scandens’, a strong pliable plant which grows along the floor and into the canopy of monsoon vine thickets. The bags are used to collect any kind Read more…