DOOWOONAN - OLD BEDFORD, 2001
PADDY NYUNKUNY BEDFORD
gouache on acid-free paper
57.0 x 76.0 cm
inscribed verso: artist's name and Jirrawun Aboriginal Arts cat. PB WP 8 2001.1
Jirrawun Aboriginal Arts Corporation, Kununurra
RAFT Artspace, Darwin
Private collection, Queensland, acquired from the above in 2001
Storer, R., Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2006, p. 164 (illus.)
This work is accompanied by a photograph of the painting at the Jirrawan Art Centre in 2001, together with a certificate from Raft Artspace that states: 'This painting shows the country on Bedford Downs Station called Doowoonan by Gija people. It was the site of the first station house on Bedford Downs now known as Old Bedford. It is a long way south of the present station. The artist's mother worked there when she was young. The long line which bisects the painting is the river. The four different areas shown are the camp for Gija men who worked as stockmen, the camp where all other Gija people from the country live, the white station house and a dreamtime place for spinifex resin known as Oegaal. Spinifex Resin is made towards the end of the dry by gathering large amounts of a particular species of spinifex on a flat rock, beating it to release the resin and then collecting it by rolling a burning stick through the resin powder. It melts and sticks together. It is used in the manufacture of spears and woomeras. It smells wonderful.'