Deutscher and Hackett

Buku-Larrngay Mulka Arts, Yirrkala (cat. 2280A)
Private collection, Melbourne

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Buku-Larrngay Mulka Arts which states in part: 'This painting illustrates two dreamtime stories, which each represent different constellations, that the artist was told by her father as a child. The first story is about two sisters called Guthayguthay and Nhayay. Guthayguthay is the elder sister and sits at the biggest fire, she and Nhayay who is the younger sister and has a smaller fire. The elder sister is able to carry bigger firewood than the younger sister who can only carry small firewood. In the olden days these two sisters used to be people, but they turned into stars that sit in the sky under the Milky Way. The second story is about seven sisters who went out in their canoe called Djulpan. During certain seasons they go hunting for food and always come back with different types of food. They come back with turtle, fish, freshwater snakes and also bush foods like yams and berries. They can be seen in the sky of a night, seven stars that come out together. The stars come in the season when the food and berries come out; the stars will travel through the sky during that month until the season is over and they don't come out until the next season.'