This painting represents my ancestral connection through my grandmother. This landscape is on (Yulumbu) Tableland Pastoral Lease. My brother, me, and four sisters, we have achieved ownership rights to our...
This painting represents my ancestral connection through my grandmother. This landscape is on (Yulumbu) Tableland Pastoral Lease. My brother, me, and four sisters, we have achieved ownership rights to our homeland of 2000 acres. It is called Bulgundi Aboriginal Corporation, and my interest in gettng it started back in 1995. By 2010 we got Bulgundi, after fifteen years of battling. Bulgundi is located by the river flow (partially enclosed circle in the painting); there's the little Fitzroy river and King Leopold range, which run to the west and we have one of our fishing place called Rockybar, which runs into the Chamberlain river running to the East. The very bottom (of the painting) represents King Leopold range and the hills above the range are represented by three enclosed shapes. The bottom right corner is my road, which will take you past Rockybar, Bulgundi and Yulumbu, then all the way out to the Gibb River highway. From the bottom right hand corner to the bottom left corner, where the King Leopold Range is, lies a valley called Warlawoon, which my grandfather Rammey Ramsey often paints. In this valley, we have Rockybar, and in the middle we have my home Bulgundi and Crocodile Gorge.
'Rockybar is one of our hunting grounds and also a place for gathering bush tucker. Rockybar, known to Gija people as Wiludngaire, is also one of our catchments that runs into the Chamblain River to the East. Why this place is special to me is because I caught a black bream there. From history to generation to generation, our old people would share Ngarranggarni stories to us (dream time stories). This fish I caught looked deformed and instantly, and I believed this fish was my unborn child. In Gija, this is what we call Judinbar; or reincarnation. I shared this feeling with my step dad and others at that time, I also went home and shared this with my brother, sisters and family. Several months past and my youngest sister gave birth to her first child (baby girl). The midwife was surprised to see a birth mark on the side of her ribcage with the marking of a fish; my niece before human life. From the experience of catching this fish in Rockybar, I understood about my people, and how we have a strong connection with our land, dream time stories and our culture before human life' - Lindsay Malay