About the artist
Dundiwuy Wanambi was the ceremonial leader of the Marrakula tribe in Yirrakala in the East Arnhem region of Northern Australia. He established a clan centre at Gurka'wuy, 80 mile south of Yirrkala. He was both a painter and sculptor.
In 1968 he painted the third bark petition of the Yirrkala people, protesting against the arrival of the bauxite mining industry in the Arnhem Aboriginal Reserve on the Gove Peninsula. He was also a signatory on the first two petitions in 1963. The petitions were painted on stringy-bark panels and now hang in New Parliament House, Canberra.
The National and Sound Archive of Australia interviewed Wanambi between 1970 and 1982 and compiled this into 50 minute film 'Conversations with Dundiway Wanambi'. In this film Wanambi discusses his life and struggles with alcohol and the arrival of mining in the area.
Dundiwuy Wanambi was related (although not closely) with Wukun Wanambi (1962-2022), an artist and sculptor who was the cultural Director of the Mulka Project, an art and cultural centre in Yirrkala, from its inception in 2007.
About the work
A Dream Painting was a gift from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia in 1980, to celebrate ICAEW's centenary and it hangs in an alcove in the modern extension (1970), near to the Business Centre. It is painted on eucalyptus bark using natural earth pigments.
The Mulka Project do not think that this was the title that the artist would have given it.
The painting is a perfect fit for the alcove, but it doubtful if was created specifically for that space.
The following text is reproduced from a plaque on the wall next to the painting:
In the Dreamtime a spirit hero called Woijal went out looking for a sugarbag (wild honey). He wore a woven pandanus dilly bag around his neck, so closely woven that the honey could not seep through. He also carried two stone axes with which to chop down the dead boughs holding the sugarbag.
After walking a long way he saw small black bees buzzing around a dead bough high up in a tree. He cut down the tree with one of his stone axes and began to scoop the honeycomb into his dilly bag. Another man, however, had heard the sound of chopping from far off and he an towards the noise, arriving just as the tree hit the ground. Thrusting Woijal aside, he began to dig out the honey with his hands and gulp it down. In doing so, a splinter of wood in the honey caught in his throat, and he ran around in agony beseeching Woijal to pull out the splinter. However he would not stay still long enough for Woijal to do so, and gradually he felt his ears, arms and legs shrivelling up until he changed in a blanket lizard (meilalwa). He ran up the nearest tree, and decided to stay there so that he would be clos e to the honey that he loved, and to use the sharp splinter as his tongue to lap up the honey.
The central panel of the painting shows the dead bough in the shape of a triangle. This shape became the design for the Marakulu ceremonial ground on which the people gather around to sing the song of Woijal the mighty hunter. The blanket lizard is shown eating the honey, and the white dots at the two ends of the bough represent honeycomb. Cross hatching represent s grass and sand.
In the top left hand corner is the sacred dilly bag of the tribe, and in the top right hand corner two stone axes on either side of a sacred emblem (rangga) representing the bough with sugarbag in it.
