Mirndiyan Gununa (MIArt): Lardil, Kaidildt, Yangkaal and Gangalidda Artists, Mornington Island, QLD
In 1948, the Kaidildt people were forcibly removed from Bentinck Island and brought to Mornington Island. Among them was a young woman who would later become known as Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori. Sixty years later, in her 80s, she began painting. The works she made depicted Bentinck Island from memory: her birthplace, her country, her ancestral sea. Before her death in 2015, Gabori's paintings had entered the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, Tate Modern in London, and the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. Her work, and that of Lardil artist Goobalathaldin Dick Roughsey before her, underpins the creative foundation of MIArt. The Lardil people have lived on Mornington Island for more than 8,000 years. Presbyterian missionaries arrived in 1914, and the mission period from 1921 to 1965 brought together the Lardil, Yangkaal, Kaidildt, and Gangalidda peoples on the island under conditions that suppressed language, law, and kinship.
Artists on the island began making bark paintings with natural ochres in the 1950s and moved to acrylics on bark in the 1970s. A dedicated Art and Craft facility was built in the mid-1980s. In 2004, the corporation decided to develop artists' work for the fine art market, and in February 2005 held a pivotal series of professional development workshops with artist Simon Turner. The first exhibition of the resulting paintings was held at Woolloongabba Art Gallery in Brisbane in June 2005. The art centre is now the MIArt arm of Mirndiyan Gununa Aboriginal Corporation (MGAC), based at 1 Lardil Street, Gununa, with a dedicated studio added in 2010/11. Other artists include Netta Loogatha, Amy Loogatha, and Amanda Gabori. The Mornington Island Dancers, one of the longest established Aboriginal performing arts groups in Australia, performed at the opening of the Sydney Opera House in 1973 and remain part of the corporation's work.
Mirndiyan Gununa (MIArt) at a glance
- Location: 1 Lardil Street, Gununa, Mornington Island, QLD 4892.
- People: Lardil, Kaidildt, Yangkaal, and Gangalidda peoples of the Wellesley Islands, Gulf of Carpentaria.
- Corporation: Mirndiyan Gununa Aboriginal Corporation (MGAC). MIArt is the visual arts business unit.
- Art forms: Acrylic painting on canvas and bark, works on paper.
- Notable artists: Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (dec.), Goobalathaldin Dick Roughsey (dec.), Netta Loogatha, Amy Loogatha, Amanda Gabori.
- Access: Mornington Island is accessible by air from Mount Isa or Cairns. A permit is required to visit the island. Contact the Mornington Island Shire Council for permit requirements.
