Lot 186: BIRRIKIDJI GUMANA , CIRCA 1898-1982 MACASSAN PRAHU Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

138 by 61.5 cm

Painted at Yirrkala, North Eastern Arnhem Land, circa 1960
Private Collection

Cf. For other paintings of the same subject by the artist, see Macassan praus, n.d., in Morphy, H. and M. Smith Boles (eds.), Art from the Land: Dialogues with the Kluge-Ruhe collection of Australian Aboriginal art, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA, 1999, p.82, plate 3.22, illus; and The coming of the Macassan traders, 1970, in the collection of the Newcastle Region Art Gallery in Aboriginal Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, 1984, p.15, pl.28, illus. An exquisite rendition of the popular theme of the Macassan fishermen and traders and their ships or prahu. The Macassans, from modern day Sulawesi, visited the shores of Arnhem Land every wet season in search of pearlshell, fish and in particular, trepang or sea cucumbers which are a delicacy throughout much of south east Asia. While they never settled, the Macassans had a marked effect on Yolngu life and culture. They introduced material items such as metal axes and smoking pipes, words which are still in use today, and aspects of their presence entered the ritual symbolism and mythology of several coastal Yirritja moiety clans. For example, the image of the distinctive sail disappearing over the horizon is a metaphor for the end of the wet season. The Macassans ceased their journeys to Australia with the introduction of the White Australia policy in 1907. J.A. Davidson commented that the 'prahu the Macassan traders arrived in are painted by the old men who could remember them,' Birridkji amongst them. Themes related to the Macassans continue to be expressed in painting and in ceremony