Jarruka Diburr

Print Council of Australia

Etching / Mono Print / 76 x 56 cm

$510.00

Sheryl J Burchill

My people are Bama of the rainforest from the renowned Daintree region. We are the Kuku Yalanji. We collect food in the open forests and wood lands across to the Great Dividing Range; we harvest and hunt on the sea, in the mangroves, the rivers and the creeks and shoreline.The Balji is made from Kakan (black palm) or Jilnknan (river grass). Our women; my grandmother, mother and aunties collected, gathered and leached poisons from nuts and seeds using this very versatile vessel. Inside my basket I have a collection of Jarruka eggs. The eggs have a soft brown coloured shell and are the size of a duck egg, with a bright yellow yolk and strong in flavour. I have dug the large mound nests with our Jalbu-jalbu; to find these eggs. The hens make their nest in the forest with the leaves, vines, branches, dirt and wood. Sometimes you will find nests with the prickly Wait-a-while plant built into them and this makes it harder to dig the nests.