Birmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha
Kaiadilt born 1942
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Gabori
Kaiadilt born c.1924
Warthadangathi Bijarrba Ethel Thomas
Kaiadilt born 1946
Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi
Kaiadilt 1929–2008
Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul
Kaiadilt born 1937
Wirrngajingathi Bijarrb Dawn Naranatji
Kaiadilt 1935–2009
Rayarriwarrtharrbayingat Amy Loogatha
Kaiadilt born 1946
Dulka Warngiid 2007
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
195.0 x 610.0 cm
Purchased with funds donated by Catherine Allen, Carolyn Berger and Delma Valmorbida, 2007 (2007.527)
Dulka Warngiid, which translates as ‘land for all’, is a brilliant conceptual vision of Bentinck Island, Queensland, anchored in the contributing artists’ deep attachment to seven distinct story places on their tiny island. The Kaiadilt people lived on Bentinck Island until the early 1940s, when they made their first contact with Europeans and were subsequently moved to Mornington Island mission. The seven surviving Kayaldild language speakers who painted this work have thus traversed the whole history of Indigenous-European contact in their lifetime.
This holistic work combines seven individual responses, from women who have spent their lives seeing the world through Kaiadilt eyes. To the far left, Dawn Naranatjil paints the soft red mudstones that are observed on the beaches; while on the beach in the upper left, Paula Paul’s shells echo the way women lay cockle shells in pleasing patterns in the ashes when cooking them. Mrs Gabori represents the amazing brightness of the sun on the sea at a place known as Dingkarri, her elder brother’s birthplace. May Moodoonuthi paints the rocks that cover the beaches, and Amy Loogatha records the red of the saltpan and the blue of the estuary at Dangkankuru. While in the upper right Netta Loogatha represents a story place in her Country; in the lower right Ethel Thomas paints marrayak (octopus, but which also means a wasting disease that occurs if a food taboo is violated).
Judith Ryan