Top End Cross Hatch Painting

It is believed that art has been a form of expression and communication for Aboriginal people since their arrival on the Australian continent. Kakadu and Arnhem Land paintings are believed to be some of the oldest art in the world. There are many art sites through-out Northern Australia that can be thousands of years in age.

Art sites were and are used by elder Aboriginals to convey tribal knowledge and secret ceremonies to the younger members of the tribes and clans. This tradition has been in continuence for hundreds of generations. Aboriginal art has progressed through different styles over these many thousands of years.

Older paintings were painted using a mixture of ochre and charcoal on rock. It has only been more recently that Aboriginal people have started to paint on bark and more recent still, canvas and paper. The paintings displayed on this web site were painted using acrylic paints and are on paper or canvas.

There has been a wealth of talented Aboriginal artists that have emerged in recent years and Aboriginal art has been recognised through-out the art world as an exciting and unique style. We hope that some of the art displayed on these pages qualify in both catergories.

Central Australian Desert Dot Art

This art has similar spirital meaning to cross hatched art as it depicts dreamtime stories handed down from generation to generation. Traditionally these intricate stories were drawn in the sand during story telling only to be blown away and lost. Now the dreamtime stories are painted on canvas using acrylic paints.

Dot paintings display a core of traditional graphic symbols which include, circles, semi- circles, lines, dots, animal and human foot prints and bush tucker. The dots and dashes when have a varierty of interpretations that include places, animals, smells and stories that bond Aboriginal people with their tribal land and to each other. For example, a circle could represent a tree, a watering hole, a ceremonial site, a cave, or a combination of things. Alternatively a line could represent a person, a path, an animal, or a digging stick. The symbols and shapes found in these paintings represent the mysterious and often intangible world of dreamings.

The paintings are just one of the ways an artist illustrates an intimate knowledge of their dreaming and this knowledge of law and customs establishes a worthiness for a person to take on greater responsibility in the tribe or clan.

Weaving by women of the Top End

The Top End of Australia and in particular, Kakadu National Park, Gunbalanya and Maningrida (Western Arnhem Land) have been recognised as areas where people excel in weaving baskets, bags, mats and other decorative pieces.

These people use local materials such as bark, vines, leaves and grasses to weave their goods. The distinctive colours of their weavings are achieved by boiling roots, leaves, flowers and gumnuts and the adding of wood ash and vegetable gum to their natural dyes.

These different colours and styles can be used in identifying the different groups and regions of Aboriginal Australia. Weavings are associated with ancestral spiritual connections which may include fertiliy, menstruation and a young man's transition to manhood. Women have become almost exclusively the creators of woven items for the commercial market as the men have devoted themselves to painting.

Didgeridoo

The didgeridoo was an essential component of Aboriginal ceremonial life. Didgreidoo's were manufactured and played by men only. Women were not allowed to play the didgeridoo and if they did so they faced the risk of becoming pregnant. The didgeridoo was manufactured from a sapling that had been hollowed out by termites, which are the major herbivore of Northern Australia. It takes a keen eye and ear to identify one of these saplings in the open eucyalyptus forests of the Top End and Kimberley's. The sappling was then stripped, sanded, burnt and painted, ready for use.

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