Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Each Wandjina traditionally has its own custodian family, and to ensure good relations
between the Wandjina and the people, the images have to be retouched annually.
One of the other significant styles of painting found in the Kimberley is that of the
Gwion Gwion figures (also named the Bradshaw images after the first non-Indigenous
person who saw them). The Gwion Gwion figures are generally small and seem to be of
ethereal beings depicted engaged in ceremony or dance. It is believed that they pre-date
the Wandjina paintings, though little is known of their significance or meaning.
BEST NORTHERN GALLERIES
»
Gecko Gallery
(
08-9192 8909;
www.geckogallery.com.au
;
9 Short St, Broome;
10am-6pm Mon-Fri,
to 2pm Sat & Sun dry season, shorter hours in wet season)
»
Short Street Gallery
(
08-9192 2658;
www.shortstgallery.com.au
;
7 Short St, Broome;
10am-5pm
Mon-Fri, to 2pm Sat)
»
Mowanjum Art & Culture Centre
( 08-9191 1008;
www.mowanjumarts.com
; Gibb River Road, Derby;
9am-5pm daily dry season, closed Sat & Sun wet season)
»
Waringarri Aboriginal Arts Centre
(
08-9168 2212;
www.waringarriarts.com.au
; 16 Speargrass Rd,
Kununurra;
8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, dry season 10am-2pm Sat)
»
Red Rock Art Gallery
(
08-9169 3000; 50 Coolibah Dr, Kununurra;
10am-4pm Mon-Fri)
Western Desert Painting
Western Desert painting, also known as dot painting, is probably the most well known of
indigenous painting styles. It partly evolved from 'ground paintings', which formed the
centrepiece of dances and songs. These were made from pulped plant material, with
designs made on the ground. While dot paintings may look random and abstract, they de-
pict Dreaming stories and can be read in many ways, including as aerial landscape maps.
Many paintings feature the tracks of birds, animals and humans, often identifying the
land's ancestral beings. Subjects may be depicted by the imprint they leave in the sand - a
simple arc depicts a person (as that is the print left by someone sitting cross-legged), a
coolamon (wooden carrying dish) is shown by an oval shape, a digging stick by a single
line, and a campfire by a circle. Men or women are identified by the objects associated
with them: digging sticks and coolamons for women, spears and boomerangs for men.
Concentric circles usually depict Dreaming sites, or places where ancestors paused in their
journeys.
