Context (CMS Context)
Collected by MAA curator, Professor Christopher Chippindale in 1994.

The bark was painted by Roger Yilarama. He lives and works at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), an Aboriginal settlement in western Arnhem Land, in the " Top End" of the Northern Territory of Australia. He is not a native of Gunbalanya region but comes from northeast Arnhem Land. He is of the Britingal clan.

The painting concerns the artist' s father' s country of Karli, east of Duwindji (Lake Avella), and the associations of water found in different parts of that country. The entire painting relates to Mardayin Djang, the ceremonies that belong to the Yirritja moiety of Arnhem Land kinship.

The painting is divided into three portions. The upper part of the painting is the ' stone country' , where a freshwater crocodile has come out from under a rock into the running water to follow a turtle. The panels to each side are painted with rarrk, cross-hatching, in the artist' s clan designs (because these panels stand for aspects of that country which are secret sacred and not to be revealed). A thin bar across the centre of the painting represents the waterfalls at the escarpment that makes the boundary between the stone country and the plains.

The lower part of the painting is the lower land of the plains, where kinga the saltwater crocodile and namarnkol the barramundi live in the estuaries and billabongs. At the bottom left is bibje the water goanna, lying under the rocks. The central lower panel is filled with bumba butterflies from the Dreamings of the artist' s mother' s country. (Taken from Dr.Chippindale' s notes which accompany the bark, and are now located in the archive). The bark cost 1500 Australian dollars and was purchased from Injalak Arts and Crafts Association, Oenpelli.; Excellent
Event Date 1994
Author: Rachel Hand

Description (Physical description)
A large bark painting mounted on a metal frame and decorated with cross-hatched motifs in yellow, red and white ochre and clay pigments. Made from stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodontaor). The painting is entitled Mardayin Djang: Water Dreamings of My Father' s Country, painted by Roger Yilarama, 1993. The painting is divided into three portions, depicting a fresh water crocodile, salt water crocodile, a barramundi, a water goanna, and butterflies.
Event Date 1/5/1994
Author: maa

Context (Display)
Displayed in "Living Traditions" , CUMAA, from January 1995.
Event Date 1995
Author: maa

Context (Display)
On display in Maudslay Hall, in the Australian window case in 2006
Event Date 11/2006
Author: rachel hand

Context (Display)
On display in the MAA exhibition Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination, March 2009- November 2010, as part of the section on Extending Bodies.
Event Date 11/2010
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
The edges of the bark are fragile and shedding, both fibre and pigment. Handle with care and support using frame.
Event Date 10/2/2012
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Noted as 'Ochre and clay with PVA binder on ochred stringybark' in Chris Chippindale, Old and New Aboriginal Australia, in Anita Herle ed. Living traditions, Continuity and change, past and present, 1994
Event Date 28/4/2016
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (References)
Illustrated in the " Living Traditions Continuity and Change, Past and Present" , Cambridge Anthropology, Special Issue Vol 17, Number 2, 1994. p19.
Event Date 28/1/2021
Author: rachel hand

Context (Display)
On display in Maudslay Hall from 2011- 10/2/2012 when it replaced by 1999.143

Event Date 28/1/2021
Author: rachel hand

Context (Display)
On display on the window case in the Colour Perceptions section of Colour: Art, Science & Power, LKS Gallery, MAA 26 July 2022 - 23 April 2023.
The text noted 'For many Aboriginal people in Australia there is an intrinsic connection between human being and their 'Country' or ancestral lands. Different coloured ochres reside in the land, absorbing the history of the earth and referencing the movements of the ancestral beings whose activities created the features of landscape.

This bark painting depicts the land or 'Country' of the artist's father and mother. It expresses the close relationship between place, kin and the substance of colour. The different shade of ochre and distinct styles of cross-hatching create a shimmering brilliance, which is identified with ancestral power and refers to clan rights over the land.'
Event Date 26/7/2022
Author: rachel hand