Djawida Nadjongorle


Dob:                  1/1/1943
Region:               Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) Western Arnhem Land, NT 
Country:              Kudjekbinj, Djalbangurr
Language:             Kunwinjku Language Group: Mayali
Social Affiliations:  Dhuwa moiety, Nakodjok subsection

Collections Held: 
Artbank, Sydney. 
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. 
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. 
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. 
Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra. 
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth. 
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A. 
Museum and Art Gallery of N.T.

Awards: 
1985, First Prize, National Aboriginal Art Award, Northern 
Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin. 

Exhibitions:
1984, The First National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of 
      the Northern Territory, Darwin 
1984, Aboriginal Art, an Exhibition Presented by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal 
      and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra 
1985, The Second National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery 
      of the Northern Territory, Darwin 
1986, The Art of the First Australians, Kobe City Museum, Japan 
1986, The Third National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery 
      of the Northern Territory, Darwin 
1986, My Country, My Story, My Painting: Recent Paintings by Twelve Arnhem Land 
      Artists, National Gallery of Australia exhibition at the Drili Hall Gallery. Canberra 
1987, Art and Aboriginality, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK 
1988, Dreamings, the art of Aboriginal Australia, The Asia Society Galleries, New York. 
1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, 
      Melbourne; Design Warehouse Sydney [through Lauraine Diggins Fine Art] 
1989, Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia. Canberra 
1990, Balance 1990: views, visions, influences, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. 
1990, I'ete Australien a' Montpellier, Musee Fabre Galiery, Montpellier, France. 
1990, Spirit in Land, Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land, National Gallery of Victoria 
1990, Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland, Art Gallery of 
      Western Australia, Perth 
1991, Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia 
1995, The Twelfth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery 
      of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Selected Bibliography: 
Caruana, W.,1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London. (C) 

Diggins, L. (ed.), 1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, exhib. 
cat., Malakoff Fine Art Press, North Caulfield, Victoria. 

Johnson, V.,1987, Art and Aboriginality, exhib. cat., Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK. O'Ferrall, M.

1990, Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland in the Collection of 
the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. (C) 

Ryan, J.,1990, Spirit in Land, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. 

Sutton, P. (ed.),1988, Dreamings: the Art of Aboriginal Australia, Viking, Ringwood, 
Victoria. (C) 

Wallace, D., Desmond, M., Caruana, W.,1991, Flash Pictures, exhib. cat., National 
Gallery of Australia, Canberra. 

1994, Kunwinjku Art from Injalak 1991-1992, The John W. Kluge Commission, Museum 
Arts International Pty. Ltd., North Adelaide.


© Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian 
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies




Details: 
Djawida was born out in the bush on his father's country at Dialbangurr. His family 
eventually moved into Oenpelli where his mother and father worked as buffalo skinners 
and salters. Djawida went to school in Oenpelli and grew up in the area. Sometimes 
the family visited their country and it was on those trips that Djawida became interested 
in painting. He first started to paint on rock, copying existing rock paintings, 
especially animals and the mimi spirits. He also left his hand and foot stencils on rock 
in lots of places. 

Djawida taught himself to mix ochres and paint. He eventually moved onto painting barks 
and in the last few years, Archer's paper. He also makes spears and didjuridus. He paints 
stories from his father's country at Djalbangurr, his mother's country at Kudjekbinj 
including nawurra story, and sometimes his grandmother's country near Manmoyi. 

NAWURRA, 
Ancestral Being of the Stone Country

Nawurra was the first and most powerful Ancestral Being of the Stone Country, which 
lies between Oenpelli and Maningrida. He was a very tall man who had two wives, and 
all three could change the shape of their faces into birds, crocodiles or serpents.

Aborigines believe that Nawurra still inhabits the Stone Country, but nowadays nobody 
can see him. During his wanderings in the Dreamtime he created sacred and secret sites 
and taught Aboriginal people the laws by which they were to live, and the song cycles 
to be performed in ceremonies so that young men would learn about their ancient history 
and religion. He also placed tabus on certain foods, and declared that the best parts 
of the food were to be given to old initiated men.

Nawurra taught men how to make spears and woomeras for hunting and fish traps from 
woven cane and vines, while his two wives taught Aboriginal women the art of weaving 
dilly bags from pandanus leaves These dilly bags were to be used by women when out 
hunting, suspending the bags from their heads so that their hands would be left free 
for food gathering or to attend to their children. Nawurra admired these dilly bags so 
much that he asked his women to make ceremonial ones for the men. They were to be the 
same shape as the women's hunting bags, but the pandanus was to be dyed with varying 
colours and have tiny parrakeet feathers of red and green interwoven through the pandanus. 
In these the men could carry special totems, small weapons, and food for ceremonies. 
Men's dilly bags were to be worn over their shoulders.

Like all Dreamtime Ancestral Beings, Nawurra could change his shape at will, and the 
one he most assumed was that of Ngalyod, the all powerful Rainbow Serpent, who created 
sacred sites and is the controller of the seasons, the Wet and the Dry. He is given great 
honour in ceremonies so that he will remain happy, because if he considers that any 
Aborigine is offending against tribal law or disturbs him with loud noises or cooking 
smells when he is sleeping, he can bring down great floods and then swallow the victim.

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