DOLPHIN DREAMING Ed. 22 of 30

In Aboriginal culture, dolphins are commonly associated with the human spirit. They are also used to symbolize the importance of a balanced life.

One day three children were travelling with their family on a boiling day. The day was so hot, in fact, that it drained every one of their energy, making it impossible for them to carry on. The adults settled there and warned their children to stay close by and not wander off. However, toward the end of the day, the children were nowhere to be found.

The adults began a search to find their kids, tracking their footprints. They traced them all the way to the edge of a cliff, where they abruptly ended. The children weren’t playing in the sea, and they were nowhere in sight.

After the children ran away and went exploring, they found the body of water and jumped in, believing it was a billabong. Once they dived in they realised their mistake and found themselves being dragged out to sea. They tried desperately calling for help, but they had wandered so far from their group that no one could hear them.

Just then Boomali, a sea spirit, came to the rescue. He saved the children, but he knew that they had been reckless and disobedient, so he decided to teach them a lesson and turned them into dolphins. For the rest of their lives they could play and have fun in the sea, but they were never allowed to see their family again.

Each print is one of only 30 available, is individually numbered and signed by artist with certificate of authenticity

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I was born in Maitland, a small NSW country town in 1964. I enjoyed an idyllic life on our small dairy farm with my parents, two brothers and grandparents. An idyllic existence for a seven-year-old till the day my grandfather rushed back from the lucerne paddock with the news that my dad had had an accident while driving the tractor and had been killed. That day my life changed forever.

Many years later I learned the family secret....I am Aboriginal. My grandfather and father had always been dark, but I thought it was because of all the hard work in the sun. I'd always had the urge to paint so one day I just let it flow. The results surprised even me, Friends began asking if I'd sell some of my work and it all went from there. I can't paint on demand though. When the feeling comes I reach for a canvas and away I go. I never know what I'm going to paint, it just comes as it comes. Painting is a very personal thing.

I am a Kamilaroi woman and a member of the Worimi Aboriginal Land Council.