Collection Online

Bäru fire story
1969

Medium
earth pigments on bark

Measurements
88.0 × 44.0 cm

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Gabrielle Pizzi, Fellow, 1997
© The Estate of Munggurrawuy Yunupingu, courtesy of Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala

Gallery location
Not on display

Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
Yirrkala, Northern Territory

Inscription
inscribed in fibre-tipped pen u.l.: 33 [inclosed in box]
inscribed in fibre-tipped pen u.r.: F285
inscribed in fibre-tipped pen u.r.: 1969
inscribed in fibre-tipped pen c.r.: 1969
inscribed in red fibre-tipped pen u.l.: MUNGURRAWUY

Accession Number
1997.174

Department
First Nations Australia

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation

Physical description
This painting represents Baru, the ancestral crocodile man who created fire for the first time in Madarrpa country in the ancestral period. The fire spread through territory of the other Yirritja moiety clans who own connected parts of the Fire Dreaming and share versions of this diamond design.