Bush Fruits

Anyinginyi Arts and Crafts Touring Exhibition

Aboriginal people have an enormous knowledge of Australian plants and animals and of seasonal changes in the Australian environment. The winds, the flowering of plants and the seeding of grasses provide natural signage for the changes of the seasons.

The first entry point for many papulanji (non-Indigenous people) into Aboriginal culture is through either art or bush tucker. It is paradoxical, that through bush tucker, the differences of two communities living together are highlighted. Most visitors looking at the country in the Barkly region describe it as desolate, barren, frightening and inhospitable. Certainly not a place with a wide variety of foods. Go out with any wumpurrarni (Aboriginal person) and places are named, food sources shown; the country is rich, diverse and giving. The Barkly is a huge area encompassing many different kinds of country including flood-outs, swamps, soakages, plains and low hills.

The artists included in this exhibition depict bush tucker in a unique and innovative way. Susan Nakkamrra Nelson, Penny Napaljarri Kelly and Lena Nakkamarra are Warlmampa. Jessica Nangala Jones and Peggy Napangardi Jones are both Warumungu and Lady Dixon Nimara is Mudpurra. The iconography includes habitat, uses, tools, seasons, importance to the wirnkarra (dreaming), sites and relevance to the individual artists and community. The descriptions of bush tucker in language are related to each language group. Some words cross over (for instance ngappa [water] is the same in Warlmampa and Warumungu) but the three languages, and country, are distinct in their own right.

Going “out bush” to collect  bush tucker is synonymous with returning to culture and country. It is the way children start learning language and culture. Bush tucker is central to issues of time and place.

Warlmampa people have a strong regard for miyaga, the bush peanut. Lena Nakkamarra explained that it is,

“really good tucker, number one, grind it up on a rock, mix it with ngappa (water), like a cake. You can carry it around for a long time. Always ready for picking.”

Susan Nakkamarra Nelson says that you can,

“Camp halfway (on a journey), you eat that tucker, tucker is right there for you.You can never go hungry with that tucker.”

Miyaga features strongly in a lot of paintings, as does yakajirri (bush sultana), nanjawali (bush tomato) and kilipi (bush banana). In the paintings these foods are often placed around water holes and next to kapirli (digging sticks), as in the work of Penny Napaljarri Kelly. Parpida (bush potato) is often central to the image as laju (witchetty grub) and kantaji (bush coconut).

Lady Dixon Nimara, from Marlinja (Newcastle Waters) and a Mudpurra speaker, paints a diverse array of bush tucker. Meerira (bush beans) fill up every available space in the canvas, interspersed with kilipi (bush banana), ngamburru (conkerberry), kurlinjaka (wild orange) and kiriri (wild peanut), to name but a few. Her work displays the variety and richness of her country, with locations mapped by the positions of the plants.

Jessica Nangala Jones includes karnanganja (emu) and witchetty grubs in her paintings which are crammed with bush tucker, often crowded into the earth or swirling around in the sky. Parntali (bush orange), kinyuwurru (bush onion) and marnukuku (conkerberry) all jostle for space.

Junma (nail tail wallaby) and julaka (birds) feature in the paintings of Peggy Napangardi Jones, along with managi (bush potato), ngamurkurtu (bush banana) and karntaji (bush coconut). Peggy describes ngamukurtu and karntaji as being the number one tucker for her. Peggy talks a lot about bush tucker and the relationship between food and seasons. Women go out on trips especially to collect bush tucker. It is a group activity, and through the expertise of older women it is an educational experience, it is how you start to learn about the country and therefore culture.

Every season is bountiful for some sort of bush tucker. In Warumungu country when it is raining, ngappa kangkurr-kangkurr, there are not many animals moving around; so that is the time to collect bush bananas for example, and the bush plums are growing. After the rain finishes it is wajirrki, the green time. Goannas are digging holes everywhere and are easy to catch. Once April arrives and the weather is cooler, makkurra (cold time), the ground starts to crack around the bush potato shrub and it is time to dig them up. When it starts to get hot, nalirri, it is time to collect bush beans, tomatoes, plums and raisins. It is also time to hunt nyilingurlu (echidnas) and karnanganja (emus).

These paintings exhibit a veritable cornucopia of indigenous plants, of bush tucker. However the actual foods painted are only part of the story. The paintings are about time, place, seasons, ceremony and law, not to mention the enjoyment of painting.

Alison Alder

2001