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Marlowal (the rock wallaby) is also used to refer to Nagarra skin. The Marlowal was pouring all these rocks to form the caves so that all the other wallabies could live in there with their families. These black rock formations can be seen in present day Warmun and around Norton Bore, Shirley’s paternal ancestral lands. They’re called ‘Thurru thurru wanannyanda’, meaning ‘pouring around’.
“That’s the Ngarranggarni for this one now – the Marlowal, that girl wallaby… You can see some of them black-black rocks around here.”
Some people eat the Marlowal, it’s tasty, and they used to hunt them all around Gija country. Marlowal or Nagarra is also my cousin-sister (my mother’s brother’s daughter); my Thamanyil.
This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.
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