Barbara Mundraby
Tribe; Yidinji Tribe
Tribal Name; Bungan (Sunlight)
Barbara paints from her life growing up on the Great Barrier Reef. This
is reflected in the bright colours that she uses and the marine theme
that is prevalent in her work. Barbara's paintings display a youthful
modernism while still keeping true to her traditional upbringing of
which she is justifiably proud.
My grandfather Fred Mundraby was an elder of the Yidinji Tribe of
Yarrabah and aboriginal community near Cairns. A great hunter of the
seas, he hunted for turtles, dugongs, fish, crabs, prawns, stingrays and
crayfish.
Rowing his boat around the bay using the spear and whop he would hunt
these traditional foods to feed the family and tribe. My father Lewis
Mundraby as a young boy grew up learning the skills of hunting on the
seas by his father. Many weekends during my childhood was spent on the
beach, camping, watching my father dragging the net, fishing, going out
for turtle and dugong and going crabbing.
Sitting around the fire at night while camping, my father would tell
stories of the older generations and how they hunted for kangaroos,
goanna, cassowaries, and crocodiles. How my grandmothers made baskets
and dilly bags. How my great grandfather made spears and boomerangs. How
they struggled and how they learned how to endure and how to cope with
change.
My memories of my childhood and the stories I have been told have
inspired me to paint these images onto canvas to teach others how
hunting on the sea and land was very important for the survival of my
people as a race.
I hope that my paintings will help people to understand and appreciate
the Aboriginal way of life that has existed and will continue to exist
for many generations.
Bungan
