This panel forms the second in the suite of tapestries which make up the Federation Tapestry.
Ngak Ngak in Limmen Bight River Country
Ngak Ngak in Limmen Bight River Country is based on a painting by Northern Territory Aboriginal artist Ginger Riley Munduwalawala. It represents the Dreamtime and the land before European habitation, and reminds us that Aboriginal people have been associated with the land of Australia for over 40 000 years.
Artwork for Ngak Ngak in Limmen Bight River Country
Riley was born around 1937 in south-eastern Arnhem Land. He grew up in the bush and intermittently went to school at the Roper River Mission, now called the Ngukurr Aboriginal Community. Riley worked as a stockman and labourer from the 1950s to the late 1970s when he moved back to Ngukurr. Around 1987 he began to paint, and quickly established the pictorial style of landscape painting which has since earnt him important recognition both in Australia and overseas. In 1997 he was awarded a major retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. He died in September 2002. Riley’s painting depicts his vision of his ‘mother’s country’, using an interconnected series of icons which include the white sea eagle Ngak Ngak, the dual serpent-creator Garimala, the shark’s liver tree, the Four Arches and the beautiful Limmen Bight River.
Before work commenced on this panel, the weavers completed a number of samples. These samples allowed the weavers to experiment with borders and establish a suitable warp setting which would allow for subtlety of detail and colour in the work.
Samples for Ngak Ngak in Limmen Bight River Country
Samples against the Museum’s wall
The samples were examined against the dark grey concrete Museum wall where the tapestry now hangs so the weavers could determine the intensity of the colour required to maintain the vitality of the design.
Ngak Ngak in Limmen Bight River Country
Artist: Ginger Riley Munduwalawala, c. 1937–2002
Size: 200 x 273 cm
The Federation Tapestry was supported by the Commonwealth Government through the Federation Fund.
Further Reading
Latreille, Anne and Walker, Murray 2001. The Federation Tapestry: one people united in peace. Catalogue available from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop and the Melbourne Museum Shop
Walker, Sue (Ed.) 2000. Modern Australian Tapestries from the Victorian Tapestry. Workshop. The Beagle Press.
1995. Australian Tapestries from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop.
Brochures: Victorian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne’s Marvellous Tapestries
Video: 1997 Contemporary Australian Tapestries from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop.