
"We hold up the ḻarrpan (spear) at the place called Garŋga (Waṉḏawuy), performing the ceremony for Bol’ŋu, the Thunderman. We sing the songline to make the clouds gather and turn into rain. And when it rains, the water flows. The name of that water is Gurryalayala."
– WÄKA MUNUŊGURR
More Info
Like the collaborative painting Djapu’ Miny’tji | Djapu’ Clan Design painted by Woŋgu Munuŋgurr and his sons in 1942, this painting is also a collaborative work depicting Bol’ŋu, the Thunderman.
The top and middle panels of this work refer to Wäṉḏawuy, the freshwater homeland for the Gupa-Djapu' clan and residence of Mäna the ancestral Shark. These sacred freshwaters are represented using the Djapu' clan's characterstic gridded patterning.
The top and bottom panels refer to Bol’ŋu, the Thunder Man, shared by the Djapu' and Gälpu clans. The image of Bol’ŋu was painted by Rerrkirrwaŋa Munuŋgurr. He is depicted holding his larrpan (spear), bent above his head in a menacing pose that is reenacted in ceremony by Djapu' dancers. Bol'ŋu's larrpan is visible in the night sky as a shooting star. It can also indicate the direction of the wind traveling over the Dhuwa' clan lands, seen against the backdrop of teaming rain caused by Bol'ŋu urinating the sacred waters to Wäṉḏawuy.
The central panel was painted by Marnyula Munuŋgurr, and shows Mäna’s djukurr (liver), represented by the icon in the center of the painting. Djukurr is a reminder of the kinship relationship of Yothu-Yindi (mother and child). The liver within the shark represents the child within the mother. Children born to Djapu' (Dhuwa moiety) women will belong to the Yirritja moiety.
At the base of the work, Ŋoŋgirrŋa Marawili has depicted Bol'ŋu as a waterspout in her mother's Country at Naypinya. This area belongs to the Gälpu clan. Beside the spout are Bol’ŋu’s ḻarrpan and baḻatj (clubs) which he throws to create thunder. Compared to the tightly gridded Djapu' clan designs, there is confusion in the field of cross hatching. This evokes the agitation and swirl of a waterspout that does not discriminate between fresh and saltwater.
– Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre
Additional Information
Decade
1996
Medium
Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
Dimensions (IN)
122 ½ x 48 ½
Dimensions (CM)
311.15 x 123.19
Credit
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997. 1996.0035.025
Narrative
Gupa-Djapu’
The Gupa-Djapu’ clan is a Dhuwa clan. The most important spiritual themes of the Gupa-Djapu’...
Narrative
Gälpu
The Gälpu clan belongs to the Dhuwa moiety. Major spiritual themes include Wititj and Bol’ŋu....
Songline
Bol’ŋu | The Thunderman
Bol’ŋu (Thunder Man) embodies the rising clouds of the monsoon season. Bol’ŋu is often depicted...
Location
1990s
Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre began the 1990s in a phase of rebuilding. By the end of...
About The Artist(s)

Clan
Maḏarrpa
Artist Dates
Born c.1939
Noŋgirrŋa Marawili
Noŋgirrŋa Marawili is among Australia’s most acclaimed contemporary artists. She is the daughter of Mundukuḻ Marawili, the wife of Djutjatjutja Munuŋgurr and the mother of Marrnyula and Rerrkirrwaŋa Munuŋgurr—all significant artists. Her works are held in every state collection in Australia, and in 2018, she was honored with a retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. She has received numerous awards, including the Telstra Bark Painting Award, which she won in both 2015 and 2019, and the Roberts Family Prize in association with the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Wynne Prize, which she won in 2019.
Collections Represented
Art Gallery of Ballarat
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Australian National Maritime Museum
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Clan
Gupa-Djapu’
Artist Dates
Born 1964
Marrnyula Munuŋgurr
Over the last three decades, Marrnyula Munuŋgurr has been a driving force at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre as an art worker, print space manager and artist. In the early 1990s, she pioneered a documentary style of painting, depicting elements of contemporary daily life at Yirrkala. More recently, she has received acclaim for her large-scale assemblage paintings. In 2020, she was awarded the bark painting prize at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
Collections Represented
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Australian Museum, Sydney
Australian National Maritime Museum
Flinders University Museum of Art
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia
Monash University Museum of Art
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
National Gallery Singapore
National Library of Australia
National Museum of Australia
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC
Sydney Opera House Collection
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery

Clan
Gupa-Djapu’
Artist Dates
Born 1971
Rerrkirrwaŋa Munuŋgurr
Rerrkirrwaŋa Munuŋgurr is the daughter of the acclaimed artists Djutjatjutja Munuŋgurr and Noŋgirrŋa Marawili. She paints the designs of both her own Djapu’ clan and her husband Yälpi Yunupiŋu’s Gumatj clan. In 2009, she was awarded the bark painting prize at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
Collections Represented
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Australian National Maritime Museum
Charles Darwin University
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia