Title
Gunmirringu - The great hunter
1983
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Gunmirrngu - The great hunter
- Place where the work was made
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Ramingining
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Central Arnhem Land
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Date
- 1983
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- natural pigments on carved wood
- Dimensions
- 167.0 x 30.0 x 15.0 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1984
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 139.1984
- Copyright
- © Malangi Estate. Licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd
- Artist information
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David Malangi Daymirringui
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Manharrngu legend tells of Gurrmirringu, the first people of the Manharrngu people and a particular spirit man; a powerful hunter, law giver and warrior. He roamed the land at Ngurrunyuwa and Mulanga on the eastern bank of the Glyde River hunting and collecting food.
One day while on a hunting trip and looking north toward the sea as he went along, he could see smoke rising in the distance from the off shore island of Murrungga. He wanted to go to wherever that smoke was coming from and he said to himself: "Yaa, where that fire is burning, I'll go over there and see where it is coming from".
So he threw the harpoon, but the harpoon didn't go far, it landed in the sea, and where it landed it became a reef that is now called Garangala. (Sometimes it is said that the rock is Gunmirringu himself.) He threw the next harpoon but it drifted eastward and landed at the northern point of the Banyan Island. That point is now called Lunggu Ga Dharra, meaning harpoon that landed. The last harpoon he flew it straight to Murrungga and it landed on the north side of the island in the sea, and where it landed it became the reef that is now called Botha.
That is how Gunmirringu from Mulanga ended up at Murrungga Island bringing rakay (the nut from sedge rush) and other foods with him to Murrungga Island. That is why they have rakay at Murrungga Island. And so, one story says that he was killed by the bite of the king brown snake, Darrpa. He is associated with the king brown snake, the death adder, the nut from the sedge rush (rakay), the white berry bush (raga) and yams (rongi/maladjakmurru) that he collected.
Brian Yambal
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Places
Where the work was made
Ramingining
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Bulada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 23 Aug 1997–14 Dec 1997
A material thing - Objects from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 31 Aug 1998–09 Feb 1999
No ordinary place: The art of David Malangi, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 31 Jul 2004–17 Nov 2004
No ordinary place: The art of David Malangi, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 23 Apr 2005–17 Jul 2005
No ordinary place: The art of David Malangi, Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide, 13 Aug 2005–02 Oct 2005
No ordinary place: The art of David Malangi, Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 12 Nov 2005–08 Jan 2006
No ordinary place: The art of David Malangi, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 23 Apr 2006–06 Jun 2006
One sun, one moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Jul 2007–02 Dec 2007
Sentient lands, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Jun 2016–08 Oct 2017
Sentient lands, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 Jan 2017–08 Oct 2017
Archie Plus, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Sep 2020–07 Mar 2021
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Bibliography
Referenced in 5 publications
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Susan Jenkins (Editor), No ordinary place: the art of David Malangi, Canberra, 2004, 69 (colour illus.).
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Djon Mundine, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘The concept of style in Central Arnhem Land’, pg. 99-104, Sydney, 2007, 100 (colour illus.).
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John Mundine and Renée Porter, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Aboriginal and Melanesian', pg. 57-71, Sydney, 1988, 64 (illus.).
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Margo Neale, Yiribana: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection, Sydney, 1994, 90, 91 (colour illus.), 139. plate no. 42
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Hetti Perkins and Ken Watson, A material thing - objects from the collection, Sydney, 1999, 6.
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