Murrup Art Post Cards

The first Murrup Art postcard collection are a beautiful thick postcard (A6 size), featuring a few of my favourite artworks, including ‘Thaliyu Dja’ (Yesterday’s Country) illustrating the iconic gold of Ballarat.

Proud Artwork

This artwork is a celebration of our Elders, past and present, and how everything we have is because of them and the paths they paved for us. We are all connected to one another, and this is was gives us such power and unity. This is illustrated by the joining journey paths, all connecting and overlapping with one another as we walk together. The connecting lines, arrows and journey paths are also symbolic of the journey our Elders go through over their lifetime, and how it is unique to them and their own identity.

Moving through the artwork are the symbols for meeting place, a place where we can all come together to yarn and share stories. The concentric circles and lines illustrate journey paths, as we travel from one place to another across Country together as a community. Animal tracks are illustrated through the centre of the artwork, representing the connection our Elders have to all living things.

The traditional U shapes represent Elder’s on Country, as they move around the tracks weaving back and forth across the land sharing their stories, history, wisdom and culture with us. As our Elders are our guide generators, we look to them to them for guidance and to help us know what paths to follow. 

As our Elders have cared for this land for thousands of years, the Country has reciprocated and cared for us providing healthy and nourished land and water, allowing us to create new life and spirit. The variety of different colours and shapes are used to illustrate diversity and the celebration of individual expression.

Night Star Artwork

This artwork represents the connection between our ancestors, land, sky and spirits. The spirits of those that have passed, live on in the night sky watching over us as we continue to care and learn from our beautiful Country home.

So much of what we have to learn is from our land Country, which is then reflected in the sky above us. This is illustrated in the artwork by the bright blue sky breaking through and emerging from the black night sky. In the middle of the blue sky is the symbol for meeting place, a place where we all come together. The classic U shapes surrounding it symbolise our past ancestors looking over us, whilst the concentric circles and lines illustrate journey paths.

The You Yang region (Wadawurrung for Big Hill) is one of the most significant cultural homes for Wadawurrung people, and this is represented by the large arches standing proudly in the middle.

 Sitting high on the left-hand side of the painting is the symbol for people coming together and sitting, which again represents our past and present mob coming together to share stories and learn from one another. The sky and stars are the home of our ancestors, animals, plants and spirits, as we look to them for care and guidance.

Yesterday's Country Artwork

Wadawurrung people were once known as the water tribe, due to our harmony with nature and resourcefulness using rivers as both our food and water source. Our coastal country, rivers (yaluk), creeks and wetlands are represented in the artwork by the strip of blue moving through the centre. This is highlighted with gold to represent the iconic gold found during the Gold Rush. 

Scar Trees also have incredible significance in Wadawurrung culture, as they provide an important link to our past history. The bark from the tree would be cut into a particular shape and removed, to then be used for a variety of different purposes, such as shields, canoes, or shelter. 

By cutting into the tree to remove the bark, scars would be created, exposing the sapwood on the trunk or branch of the tree, such as the beautiful scar tree located at Sovereign Hill. This is illustrated in the artwork by the different patterns and shapes around the top and bottom edges of the painting.

Moving through the artwork are the symbols for meeting place, a place where we can all come together to yarn and share stories. The concentric circles and lines illustrate journey paths, as we travel from one place to another across country together a community.

The traditional U shapes represent people on Wadawurrung country, as they move around the tracks weaving back and forth across the land sharing their stories, history and culture.

 The variety of different colours and shapes are used to illustrate diversity and the celebration of individual expression.