The Birrundudu Drawings represent one of the most significant bodies of historical imagery ever introduced into the canons of Australian art. A collection of 810 crayon drawings were created by sixteen Aboriginal men working on a Northern
Territory cattle station in 1945. That place was Birrundudu, an outpost of Gordon Downs, a large cattle station with a lease that extended across the Northern Territory and Western Australian borders.
The works resulted from the men’s engagement with the anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Berndt. Dutifully recording as much information about their meaning as he could, Ronald Berndt and the men who made these drawings captured an extraordinary record of the Country, ancestors, history and ceremonies of the region.
The collection is cared for today by the Berndt Museum at the University of Western Australia. Apart from a handful of drawings, most of the collection has never been seen. Birrundudu Drawings brings to the world for the first time these remarkable art works.
These 810 drawings sat in silence for the eighty years since they were created: first in the Berndts’ home and then at the museum. Some of these silences are interrogated in this book. Others will take longer to resolve. What is beyond doubt is the fact that the Birrundudu Drawings represent a monumental body of Aboriginal knowledge and creativity. The drawings are not simply important because they have never been seen, nor because there are so many of them. They are important because of the convergence of these two aspects – their scale combined with their novelty has transformative potential in the narratives of Aboriginal art and Australian history.

A breathtakingly beautiful and history-swerving body of work.

Birrundudu Drawings reflects knowledge from cultural leaders, custodians and descendants of the original artists. It includes contributions from Robert McKay, George Lee, Margaret Wein, Jimmy Tchooga, James Elliot and many others, along with essays from the editorial team. The book was edited in collaboration with custodians by John Carty, Jason Gibson, Stephen Gilchrist, Jessyca Hutchens, Alistair Paterson, and Luke Scholes.

Details:

• With contributions from John Carty, Jason M. Gibson, Alistair Paterson, Luke Scholes, Jessyca Hutchens & Stephen Gilchrist
• Hardcover
• 384 pages
• Dimensions: 270 x 250 mm