BIRRUNGA WIRADYURI
Guwalanha (Becoming)

2020
acrylic on framed canvas
79 x 206cm

This is a piece on my personal Lore, my Totem, my Country, my Ancestors, my Elders, my Culture & our Wiradyuri central Lore of Yindyamarra containing the symbols of Wiradyuri mountains, plains, rivers as well as our exclusive men’s Lore, diamond Lore.

It honours an Ancestor from Peel near Bathurst named Balgargal, whose Lore is that of where the sun first touches our Mother in the morning until the last touch in the evening. Balgargal translates as ‘sunlight, the glory where Biyaami lives’.

My Ancestor, Birrunga’s Lore & Balgargal’s Lore is closely linked.

This piece is from the Sky, which is my Lore & my Totem, looking down across Country. The 5 band crosshatch represents Yindyamarra. The blue represents the highest Wiradyuri spiritual colour for men. There are a number of sites of significance present & hidden paths of connection. The spirit of the dyagula, biladurang & wombad are present also. I’ve shown my mark, which began as a signature years ago but is now a symbol that incorporates the lines of our badawal, wamar, gama, gulaman, marga and bundi. I use it to finalise the works. The 5 band crosshatch on white around the sides of the work represents our sacred white ochre.

As a part of our Custodianship Program, to create around ‘being’, this piece also speaks to the intrinsic focus & commitment in Cultural practice of Becoming. We are practicing Cultural practitioners, artists, arts workers.

When we approach our Cultural responsibilities from the perspective of practicing custodianship, rather than having arrived, we honour the non-linear nature of our ‘being’ our Ancestors, our Country, our Community, our Lore, our Ceremony: what was, is now & is yet to come; is us Becoming.


* Dyagula – lyrebird
* Biladurang – platypus
* Wombad – wombat
* Badawal – boomerang
* Wamar – woomera
* Gama – spear
* Gulaman – coolamon
* Marga – shield
* Bundi – nalanala, club