Life-sized ceramic Bagu sculptures, Cardwell. Photo: Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre
Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre – Cardwell, North Queensland
Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre was established in 2008 in Cardwell, halfway between Townsville and Cairns on Queensland's far north coast. It represents artists from nine Traditional Owner groups: the Nywaigi, Gugu Badhun, Warrgamay, Warungnu, Bandjin, Girramay, Gulngay, Jirrbal, and Djiru people. Together their traditional country covers around 1.2 million hectares of North Queensland, taking in tropical rainforest, coastal ranges, waterfalls, and the islands and waters around Hinchinbrook, Goold, Dunk, and Family Islands. The art centre sits within the broader Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, which was incorporated in 1996 and was instrumental in having Lumholtz National Park renamed Girringun National Park in 2003, after almost a decade of negotiation with the Queensland Government.
The art produced at Girringun reflects a rainforest culture with access to an unusually diverse range of land and sea materials, and the objects made here look unlike those from most other parts of Australia. The most distinctive works are the Bagu with Jiman: sculptural forms based on the traditional fire-making implements of the Girringun rainforest peoples. The Bagu (body) is traditionally carved from boogadilla (milky pine), and the Jiman (firesticks) from mudja (wild guava) or jiman wood. Artists now render these forms in clay, timber, and string, painted with traditional ochres: magera yellow, jillan black, and garba white. The imagery has its origins in a sky spirit of fire that threw firesticks across the sky, leaving a trail of flames. Alongside the Bagu, artists at Girringun produce weavings (by both men and women), paintings, ceramics, printmaking, textiles, jewellery, and traditional weapons and implements.
Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre at a glance
- Location: Cardwell, North Queensland, halfway between Townsville and Cairns
- Traditional Owner groups: Nywaigi, Gugu Badhun, Warrgamay, Warungnu, Bandjin, Girramay, Gulngay, Jirrbal, Djiru
- Established: 2008
- Art forms: Bagu with Jiman sculpture, weaving, painting, ceramics, printmaking, textiles, jewellery, traditional objects and weaponry
- Country: Approximately 1.2 million hectares of tropical rainforest, coast, ranges, and offshore islands in far north Queensland
