Wandjuk Marika

Wandjuk Marika was born on Dhambaliya (Bremer Island), the eldest son of Mawalan Marika and while his "early life was influenced by the increasing intrusion of balanda (whitefella) influence and activity in Arnhem Land [...] Marika grew up learning the skills associated with his future responsibilities as a leader of the Rirratjingu clan and Dhuwa moiety."¹Marika started painting on bark when he was in his mid-teens, working with his father and it was his father who taught him about "his ceremonial obligations regarding the two major Dhuwa ancestral song cycles - the Djan 'kawu Story and the Wawilak Sisters."²

Marika was one of the first students to attend the Yirrkala Mission school where he later became one of the assistants. It was Marika’s command of the English language, that then "enabled him to interpret Yolngu culture for visiting anthropologists and art collectors."³

Throughout his life, Marika remained politically active on behalf of his eastern Arnhem Land clan leaders, protesting unsuccessfully against the Federal Government about mining activities that were threatening Yolngu sovereignty over their lands. He also became a key advocate for the legislative protection of Indigenous intellectual property rights.

Acquired circa 1960 in Yirrkala by the Mission School's principal Mr Ron Croxford, who recalled he purchased it at the time for "its quality and the fact that it was the first time that such a design had been presented." According to the Art Coordinator at Buku-Lurrngay Arts (Yirrkala), the designs represent Rainmaking Snakes and Totemic

Species dealing with "pay-back" (personal correspondence, 1997).

¹ Ken Watson, Tradition Today: Indigenous Art In Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004, p. 80

² ibid.

³ ibid.