BIRRUNGA WIRADYURI
Yindyamarra Wirgany Gawaymbanha Ngurambang

2019
acrylic on canvas

“To do something slowly; to respect; to be gentle; to be polite; to honour in the sky – welcome home to Country.”

This piece shows the five circular shapes or holes that appeared in the clouds as we were travelling south coming onto Wiradyuri Country. We were driving south around sunset in early December 2018, heading to Bathurst.

The weather was severe with gale force Westerlies coming off the planes, hitting the range and causing severe weather across the NSW hinterland and coast. We were cutting across toward Mudgee when we saw these circles appear in the clouds, low to the ground in the distance.

We both remarked on them at the time as neither of us had ever seen anything like it. We mentioned it to Uncle Brian Grant who quietly asked us to explain in detail what we’d seen and where.

After a while he told us this was the Ancestors welcoming me home and back onto Country.

The cluster of five circles represented the five elements of Yindyamarra, Wiradyuri’s central law.

I’ve had the image of that sky in my mind’s eye ever since.