'Internationally acclaimed traditional Aboriginal Australian painter, Yirawala tells of his life and his struggle to prevent Aboriginal sacred paintings being sold overseas, and his fight to protect his tribal lands in his role as elder of the Gunwinggu tribe.'
Yirawala : Artist and Man
Milton
:
Jacaranda Press
,
1972
14083511
1972
single work
autobiography
Summary: Introduction by Phillip Roberts; brief outline of Aboriginal life, antiquity of human occupation of Australia, origins, religious background to art, adaptation to environment, effects of European contact, social organization; (Arnhem Land) moieties, sections, marriage, breaches of marriage law, division of Labour, spirit beliefs; recounts authors first contacts with Yirawala, gives version of Maung myth, notes on cooking geese, reproduces biographical information on Lazarus Lami-Lamitaken from taped letter, Maung myths; Goulburn Is. mortuary ceremony, spirit beliefs; attitude of Yirawala to mining, prospectors and land; Gunwinggu myth on origin of didgeridoo; account of filming expedition to take Yirawala to home territory; versions of 5 myths - Lumah-lumah, the big Maraian man; Namarrgine, the birdman; Gurgurr, the moon man; Booma-booma, the big man; Namorren, the lightning man, each with reproductions of series of bark paintings with relevant notes in margin; profusely illustrated with examples of Yirawalas paintings.
