Aboriginal Artist Series – Part 7

This week we highlight two artists beginning with Polly Wheeler.  Bush Plum is a vital food source for the Aboriginal People and is frequently featured in the Women’s Dreaming Stories. The fruits are harvested by shaking the trees until they fall to the ground, but the fruits, although already quite sweet, need to be soaked in water to soften and plump them for eating. The Bush Plum flowers in the spring.

Our second artist is W. Evans. The fabric designed by W. Evans is Snake and Emu. The story behind this fabric goes like this: In the Dreamtime, all the earth was sleeping. Nothing moved or grew. One day the Rainbow Serpent woke up from her slumber and came out of the ground. She travelled a long distance and became tired so she curled up and went to sleep. Her body was heavy which left marks of her sleeping and winding tracks. She then returned to her original starting place. She found a hole at the place and thought that there were some frogs in the hole. She asked the frogs to come out of the hole.

The frogs were slow to come out. They had drunk too much water and their bellies were heavy. They eventually came out. Amusingly, the Rainbow Serpent tickled their stomachs and the frogs laughed.  When the frogs laughed, the water came out of their tummy.  This is how the lakes and rivers were filled with water and the grass and trees sprung up across the land.

One day the Rainbow Serpent saw an Emu sitting close to a big tree. The Rainbow Serpent liked the Emu and became her friend. Emu told the serpent that she was laying eggs. A few days later some small emu chicks started walking around. Rainbow Serpent became happy and decided to stay. Rainbow Serpent also made laws for the inhabitants of the place allowing everybody to live in peace.