Photographed by Trish Barnard.
Accession Number: QE26028
Museum: Queensland Museum
Date Acquired: 1989
Collector: Gladys Jean Henry (1921-2010)
Date Collected: 1960s
Where from: Murray Upper
Description: Painting on board. Natural pigments. According to Gladys Henry’s original notes, this painting is of a cyclone and a cockatoo pattern. Cyclones have always played a cultural role in the lives of the Jirrbal people of the rainforest near Tully. They are a totem for the Jirrbal people of the rainforest near Tully. Babalmurri (cyclones) are “talked up” from two sites, namely the rocks in the Bellenden Ker mountain range (storms) and the bottom of Davidson Falls (large storms and cyclones) which are seen at the bottom of this work. These cultural sites are known as nyanyjaymi, places their spirit comes from on their own country. The bottom of Davidson Falls is dangerous, only gijjuns (large water monitors) and bungaru (tortoises) walk there in safety. The place remains taboo to outsiders unless they are accompanied by a Jirrbal law man. Furthermore, if any of the sacred earth near the falls site is disturbed and drops into the gorge, a cyclone will be created. This object was part of Gladys Henry’s (1921-2010) collection.
QM acquired this object by transfer from JCU Collection. Originally donated to JCU by the Australia Council. In 1979 Gladys Henry sold the collection of 588 artefacts to the Aboriginal Arts Board of Australia Council for $5,800 who then deposited the collection with the Material Culture Unit at James Cook University. A decade later in 1989 the Australia Council then gifted the collection to James Cook University. This gesture was celebrated with an official handover on 10 April 1990 attended by dignitaries from both organisations, Gladys Henry and local traditional owner representatives, with performances by Waddama Dancers. The collection is still one of the most important collections to be assembled after Walter Roth travelled through the Cardwell and Tully region in the early 1900s, and contains excellent examples of material culture production that continued well into the 1970s. Some of Henry’s collection is also held at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Her daughter Valerie Keenan is the Arts Manager at Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre in Cardwell.
See: ‘Gladys Henry’ authored by Trish Barnard
http://www.jcucollections.org/?page_id=797
Contact: Chantal Knowles, Head of Cultures and Histories, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, QLD 4001 AUSTRALIA
Phone: (07) 3842 9038
Email: Chantal.knowles@qm.qld.gov.au