Bark Painting
date: label: Accession Date
content: 2 May 1949
name: label: Donor Name
content: American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "CENTRAL PANEL OF MAN AND WOMAN SURROUNDED BY CROSS-HATCHED LINES OF YELLOW AND WHITE ON RED. REFER: MOUNTFORD: ARNHEM LAND, V. I, PL 107(B), P. 334 SIMILAR BUT NOT OUR SPECIMEN. SACRED (VERTICAL) (WONDJUK INFORMANT) THE CROSS-HATCHED TRIANGLES ARE CLOUDS (AT TOP AND BOTTOM). THE MAN IS GURUMUL-NGA AND THE WOMAN BAI-INNI, BROTHER AND SISTER, BOTH JIRITJA, CAMPING AT A WATERHOLE (YELLOW) CALLED BORNALA. A LONG TIME AGO TWO SISTERS CAME AND MADE THIS WATERHOLE, ON THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF PORT BRADSHAW. THE BROTHER AND SISTER CAMPED THERE, BUT THEN WENT ON A JOURNEY AS FLYING-FOXES, CHANGING BACK TO HUMAN FORM AT EACH CAMPING-PLACE. THEY FLEW TO DULMUMMIA (WESTERN SHORE) AND MADE A WATERHOLE WHERE THEY COPULATED, AND HE LEFT THE MARKS OF HIS KNEES AND SHE OF HER BUTTOCKS ON THE ROCK, AND ALSO THEIR FOOTPRINTS. THEY FLEW TO MELVILLE BAY AND STAYED THERE AS MAN AND WOMAN." SEE CARD FOR SMALL DRAWING.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 28 Feb 2019
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 178294
label: USNM Number
content: E387454-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bark Painting
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 95.2 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 34.3 cm