PROVENANCE
Delmore Gallery, NT Cat No. 92I066
Private Collection, NSW
Accompanied by original Coo-ee Aboriginal Art certificate
Inside the cave called Entibera on Utopia Station a large group of women gather to sing the stories (awelye) associated with this site. Over the walls are symbols that refer back to the time of creation and the two mythological sisters who came here and stayed. Within these women's adventures are the morals and education that form the basis of the present day women's ceremonial business.
Centrally situated in the cave is a rock-hole. The senior ritual leaders sit near the rock-hole and take the others through the songs about the Rock Wallaby Man who was won over by the sister's love magic and the different processes given bush tucker either for eating or for medicine.
Part of the proceedings are taken up by the washing and painting of their bodies. The designs applied to the body relate to the bush tucker species that each woman has custodial responsibility for.