Joel Ngallametta: Saltwater
Words, voices and images: Connecting to cultures around the world
“We are in a place that is 70 kilometers or so to the south of the settlement known as Aurukun on the western shores of Cape York Peninsula. To the Aboriginal people living along the shores of the Gulf at that time these visitors looked like white ghosts”.
Duration
4.43
Director
Andrea and Peter Hylands
Cinematography
Andrea Hylands
We take you back more than 400 years to 1606 and the Dutch East India Company vessel Duyfken as it dropped anchor at Cape Keerweer in the Gulf of Carpentaria all those centuries ago.
Today, the stories from the Cape, handed down from generation to generation, and the secondary accounts that survive in Europe, suggest that all did not go well with this first encounter, during which reports indicate that nine Dutchmen were killed during skirmishes with local Indigenous people. This and subsequent encounters also led to the death of Aboriginal men, one such encounter was in 1623 when it was recorded that at least one Aboriginal (Wik) man was shot.
It was a little more than 400 years later that Joel Ngallametta was to extend his hand of friendship across the oceans and to the Netherlands. In October 2007, Joel, part of a delegation of eight Aboriginals men and women from Aurukun travelled to the Netherlands. Their journey by 747 took 20 hours, not the many months taken by the sailing ship Duyfken all those years earlier.
Their initiative, to present ceremonial law poles to the Netherlands as a sign of reconciliation.
These poles known as Thapayongk law poles, represented inverted trees, which provided a way for the spirit to return to the earth. Once used in funerary ceremonies these poles are now used in house opening ceremonies so that the spirit can be guided back to their place of birth.
In Joel’s paintings, the ochre represents the reflection of the sun as it sets over the Gulf of Carpentaria, the white the reflecting salt water of the shore.
Joel and Ron Yunkaporta were the artists of the law poles presented to the people and Government of the Netherlands. During this trip Joel visited Amsterdam and Utrecht and participated in the ceremony to commemorate that first encounter 400 years earlier at the Aboriginal Art Museum of Utrecht.
Joel’s distinguished sculptures can be viewed as part of the art collection and sculptural work at the Cairns International Airport. It is in Cairns that we catch up with Joel as he works on a new painting at Canopy Artspace.
Today, the stories from the Cape, handed down from generation to generation, and the secondary accounts that survive in Europe, suggest that all did not go well with this first encounter, during which reports indicate that nine Dutchmen were killed during skirmishes with local Indigenous people. This and subsequent encounters also led to the death of Aboriginal men, one such encounter was in 1623 when it was recorded that at least one Aboriginal (Wik) man was shot.
It was a little more than 400 years later that Joel Ngallametta was to extend his hand of friendship across the oceans and to the Netherlands. In October 2007, Joel, part of a delegation of eight Aboriginals men and women from Aurukun travelled to the Netherlands. Their journey by 747 took 20 hours, not the many months taken by the sailing ship Duyfken all those years earlier.
Their initiative, to present ceremonial law poles to the Netherlands as a sign of reconciliation.
These poles known as Thapayongk law poles, represented inverted trees, which provided a way for the spirit to return to the earth. Once used in funerary ceremonies these poles are now used in house opening ceremonies so that the spirit can be guided back to their place of birth.
In Joel’s paintings, the ochre represents the reflection of the sun as it sets over the Gulf of Carpentaria, the white the reflecting salt water of the shore.
Joel and Ron Yunkaporta were the artists of the law poles presented to the people and Government of the Netherlands. During this trip Joel visited Amsterdam and Utrecht and participated in the ceremony to commemorate that first encounter 400 years earlier at the Aboriginal Art Museum of Utrecht.
Joel’s distinguished sculptures can be viewed as part of the art collection and sculptural work at the Cairns International Airport. It is in Cairns that we catch up with Joel as he works on a new painting at Canopy Artspace.
Joel Ngallametta’s story
My family are from the saltwater,
all the paintings that I do,
the white represents the saltwater,
and the red represents the sun,
when the sun sinks down on the saltwater.
I am a song man,
and a traditional dancer as well.
My father,
when he passed away,
I am the eldest son
and do the singing and dancing as well.
Of course I was bred and born in Aurukun,
My father was originally from Pormpuraaw.
With my art I travel around,
Australia and overseas,
I have been to places like the Netherlands,
Amsterdam and Utrecht.
Then with my art,
I have been to places like China, Hong Kong,
and took some of them, herbs, bush medicine.
Now I am working in the City at this art centre here,
contemporary,
people come around here and see my art,
my paintings.
The ochre,
we go out to the salt plains,
and dig down into the ground,
and find the yellow ochre,
and pick it up,
and put it in a pile,
and take it home,
make a fire,
and cook them on the coals.
From the yellow it turns into red.
Traditional dancing uses the paint as well,
I am a song man, dancer and a singer,
my father gave his knowledge to me,
and me, to my son.
All the traditional ways of learning,
when I was a kid my father used to come
and sing along,
when I used to go to sleep it goes in my head,
the words,
what it means.
I can speak Wik, Mungkan,
Aurukun,
My father is from Pormpuraaw,
I can speak both languages,
Aurukun, Pormpuraaw,
I can speak both languages,
And even my mother’s side, Thaayorre,
English is my fourth language.
Joel Ngallametta’s story
My family are from the saltwater,
all the paintings that I do,
the white represents the saltwater,
and the red represents the sun,
when the sun sinks down on the saltwater.
I am a song man,
and a traditional dancer as well.
My father,
when he passed away,
I am the eldest son
and do the singing and dancing as well.
Of course I was bred and born in Aurukun,
My father was originally from Pormpuraaw.
With my art I travel around,
Australia and overseas,
I have been to places like the Netherlands,
Amsterdam and Utrecht.
Then with my art,
I have been to places like China, Hong Kong,
and took some of them, herbs, bush medicine.
Now I am working in the City at this art centre here,
contemporary,
people come around here and see my art,
my paintings.
The ochre,
we go out to the salt plains,
and dig down into the ground,
and find the yellow ochre,
and pick it up,
and put it in a pile,
and take it home,
make a fire,
and cook them on the coals.
From the yellow it turns into red.
Traditional dancing uses the paint as well,
I am a song man, dancer and a singer,
my father gave his knowledge to me,
and me, to my son.
All the traditional ways of learning,
when I was a kid my father used to come
and sing along,
when I used to go to sleep it goes in my head,
the words,
what it means.
I can speak Wik, Mungkan,
Aurukun,
My father is from Pormpuraaw,
I can speak both languages,
Aurukun, Pormpuraaw,
I can speak both languages,
And even my mother’s side, Thaayorre,
English is my fourth language.
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