My Australian Collection
Didgeridoos, boomerangs, dot paintings etc.
Ayers Rock (Uluru) at Sundown
Didgeridoo's
#1
Click Thumbnail Pictures to enlarge!
This is my most prized Didge! It's almost 6 ft. long. Very heavy Eucalyptus or Mulga Wood. Painted by a local Aboriginal Artist near Alice Springs, NT. Australia, . It has Ayers Rock, the Olgas which are nearby, Goanna lizard, Ghost image, Kangaroo and lot's of dot artwork. I've seen these sell for well over $1000
Artist: Tommy Dodd Ubanoo
Tribe: Deirie
Ubanoo is a well-known Deirie, didgeridoo player. He takes time to find the right bough that can produce a wide range of sounds. The artwork is done with similar expertise and are traditional Deirie designs.
DIDGERIDOO Info:
A eucalyptus bough that is traditionally a man's instrument. Blowing sends air through the rube in harmonics. The men make sounds that imitate the movement and sounds of bush animals.
For ceremonies, the didgeridoo is elaborately designed in traditional tribal design for the particular ritual.
This didgeridoo also tells the story of
men hunting for large goannas near rock waterhole ( (o) ) sites. The Kuyarl
means Goanna. The eggs are goanna eggs.
The top section of the didgeridoo shows
the Wandjina Spirits.
They are creation Gods who form the land and the
animals. The Wandjina form other gods whose job it is to look after the elements
of the land and its people, eg: water, people, mountains, fire wind, fertility.
Frame three depicts Ayers Rock and the
Olgas.
The details are a part of a sacred mythology of this area and other information cannot be told outside the clan.
THE STORY OF THE BOY WHO LOVED TO PAINT AND DRAW:
This story or legend I am about to tell is how I came to get the name Ubanoo from a tribal leader better known around Silverton and Broken Hill. A Deirie tribesman, he told me many stories and as I was keen on painting he showed me the way to put his stories into the paint on the bark. After telling his stories and showing his paintings he would sit me down and relate this legend to me once more.
A young boy from the tribe would rather draw pictures than learn to hunt or sing and dance. He spent his days drawing in the sand and with ochre on the rocks.
The old men grew angry because they needed the precious ochre to use to trade with the coastal tribes in exchange for salt. They forbade him to use any more ochre, so the boy cut his finger and used his blood to draw pictures on trees. The old men then forbade him to cut himself. They boy then peeled the bark from a tree and with a sharp piece of rock he drew a picture on the bark. But the tree died, so the old men forbade him to cut bark from trees. He found a smooth patch of sand and drew a picture in the sand. An old man walked over his picture and ruined it, and the boy was forced out of the tribe by the old men, so he walked into the hills. He walked for three days far into the country, until he came to a small cave in a hillside. The walls of the cave were covered with drawings far better than any he had ever done. He stayed in the cave for a year and spent chat time studying the pictures and learning why they had been done. He also copied them until he knew he could do pictures like those on the walls of the caves. Then he walked back through the hills and returned to the people. On his return walk he found a patch of ochre so large, with red, yellow, white and brown. He placed some of each color on a flat piece of rock and carried them back with him to his people.
The old men welcomed him, for they could no longer find any ochre, they asked him to draw them a picture with the ochre he had brought. The boy drew a picture that was so beautiful that the old men said he could use all the ochre he needed and could draw whenever and wherever he wished.
UBANOO
#2
This one is also very heavy Mulga Wood, about 5 ft. long. I bought it in Alice Spring around 1991. It had the best sound of about 100 others I tried. Some like this sell for over $800
#3
This is the first Didge' I ever purchased, around 1989. It's an original Aboriginal Doo.
It's painted it with ochre, which is a colored, sandstone like rock they powder and mix with water. Sometimes the Aboriginals would walk many, many miles to find special places which had certain colors of ochre. This one is painted with brown with white artwork. It was stored in a storage building for over 25 years before I found it. The antique dealer said it's about 30 years old then. So now it's almost 50! Value at purchase was about $40
#4
This is one of the Cheapy type you get in America. ($25) Probably made in China? Made of hollowed out Bamboo. The Art work resembles Aboriginal dot painting but the Snake and Lizard looking thing don't look right at all. It has a lot of hand carved work on it and very nice dot paint. Unfortunately because it's bamboo, it dries out and splits and no longer will play very well because to play one you have to have back pressure and with all the leaks, it's like blowing in the wind! It still sounds fair and looks ok. Don't bother buying one of these unless you just really like the artwork! Like I did!
#5
I bought this one in Eureka Springs AR. in 2004. Very nice Sound, very Heavy. Not sure what wood this is. It was really reasonable too. $40 Great wood Grain!
Beautiful Boomerang with Kangaroos, Emus
Wonderful Australia Shaped Plaque with Kangaroos, emus and Goannas.
Bluey’s designs depict the spiritual areas of both his Father and his Mother.
His mother is Ngarrindjeri and his Father is Kukata. He has a rich tapestry of interconnected kin and land affiliation. All his works depict scenes and spirits of the bush, the Upper and Lower Murray River, the Coorong and adjoining Sea in South Australia.
Bluey Roberts is the nephew of Jimmy James one of our best-known South Australian trackers. Jimmy originally came from the Oldea region of South Australia but lived in the Riverland for many years. Bluey and Jimmy shared a love of the bush and were both accomplished Boomerang throwers. Bluey has created a monument to honor Jimmy’s life and accomplishments as a tracker. The Monument can be found gently nestled on the banks of the Murray River at Berri.
The “Dream Time” is believed to be a time of creative activity by various spirit creatures. The Aboriginal people see their entire culture as a legacy of the “Dream Time”. Great spiritual emphasis is placed on the land, fauna and flora. Every group has its own territory and other groups never challenge their rights. This has changed considerably since the arrival of Captain Cook and the assertion of Terra Nullius. With Land comes the responsibility of maintenance. These obligations include practical care and ritual care. In ritual care the “Dream Time” mythology is re-enacted. For example traditional ceremonies for increase, and care of the country ensured continuity, integration and equilibrium.
Sadly he notes this activity is becoming increasingly more difficult in some areas of Australia and in other areas has already stopped. The old people are dying off and the young uninitiated do not have the necessary skills. Bluey’s work holds memories of that long ago time. Some of his rock formations depict the spirit face of an ancestor metamorphosed within the rock as utilizable power and who shows a continued interest in the affairs of the people, the land, the animals, birds and plant life. Around this rock in the bush one will find Emus or Kangaroo grazing.
In earlier times The Emu increase ritual had a “Dream Time” creation story. At this time Aboriginal people would tap into that power and initiate a response to action on the part of the ancestor. This was done by re-enactment of the Emu creation story at the metamorphosed spirit site just before egg laying time. Part of the ritual involves stating what is wanted or needed, for example one would want feathers for ceremony, meat and eggs for food and more eggs for reproduction. The Emu guardian or spirit, in response to the ritual, would then ensure there would be plenty. These rituals are sacred and secret and whilst it is permissible to paint everyday scenes one would never reveal the dynamics of a Dreaming ritual.
Many of Bluey’s works depict his “old people”. Whilst they are caricatures of dancers, musicians and observers, or hunter gather scenes, he feels, as they live on in his memory and as part of his art work, the great loss of so many Aboriginal lives in the frontier wars and the dispersions, the loss of children to assimilation programs, and the loss of cultural ways of living and being in the world will not be entirely forgotten. Artwork is his way of taking care of his culture.
Boomerangs!
Hook or Hammer, Type Boomerang. About 2 and 1/2 feet long!
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Honey Ant Dreaming dot Painting Boomerang! Artist: Maurene Nampajimpa. Tribe: Napperby of Santa Teresa.
Aboriginal women dig up honey ant mounds to find the marble sized, honey sacks on these ants to eat!
Picture depicts on the far left. the U shaped marking is a Woman sitting, next to her is her digging stick. Along the rest of the Rang is tunnels with the honey ants and eggs shown.
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This Burned style Boomerang is also made by Bluey Roberts, made of Mulga with images of Baramundi (Fish) on the left end, Kangaroos, native fauna, Mulga trees and Spinifex grass in the center and on the right the Watering hole with tracks all around it.
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This Rang has dot painting and Burned wood artwork.
The Postman. Commemorative Plate with picture of the postman delivering mail to an outback family!
Aboriginal Dot Painting approx 2X3ft. Water hole in center, women (U) sitting around a fire with gathering bowl and digging sticks next to them. Watering hole in center, with kangaroo (L), Emu (3 lines joined at the bottom), goanna (continuous line with tracks on either side) and other animal tracks leading to and from the water. Lower right is Men sitting around Fire with hunting sticks beside them (boomerangs)
Tap Sticks. They make a sharp tap when hit against each other. Another Aboriginal instrument!
I lived in Alice for nearly 4 years and spent another 3 traveling back and forth!
Click the sign to go check it out.
