Oil on stretched canvas, ready to hang.

Signed on the back.

“Bungi” means “today” in the language of the Biripi people of the Port Macquarie region. My ancestors came from the Gloucester region but some of our family moved over to Wingham where the Aboriginal men were known to live and work as shepherds and farm hands on a large property called “Bungi-Bungi.” Some of the Biripi Elders today retain the surname of Bungi, passed down over the generations.

The patterns in this work depict this heritage of working on the land in the cultural context of keeping Biripi family ties and ways alive. Although much cultural knowledge has been lost since this time through generations of dispossession, the concept of “Bungi” - “Today” communicates the resilience of the Biripi and their undying cultural strength that has not only survived, but blossomed over time.