#258 "Macassans Arrive at Elcho Island": Sylvia Mulwanany Burarrwanga - ABORIGINAL ART: 51x67cm

ARTIST: Sylvia Mulwanany Burarrwanga   

REGION: Elcho Island
LANGUAGE: 
TITLE:  Macassans Arrive at Elcho Island 
MEDIUM: Painting - acrylic on canvas

Biography :
Sylvia was born in 1964 and lived on Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Her great grandmother (her father’s side) was either married or captured at Arnhem Bay in the 1890’s by an Indonesian sea captain. She went with him to live at Macassar and had children there, establishing ties between her Elcho Island family and the Macassans. 
Her father Charlie Matjiwuy is also an artist and they both have art works displayed Australia wide.

“This is an old-time story of when the Macassan sailors visited Elcho Island and other communities in Arnhem land. This area of land is called Mission Beach or Gulmangu. It is where the Macassan Sailors landed at Elcho Island. It was called Takirrina then. They came to trade with us Yolngu people. They would bring boats full of rice and give us material for nagas (loin cloths) and clothes. Yolngu gave them big mobs of trepang (sea slug) and they gave us axes and knives. Yolngu would look forward to the Macassans coming every year with the north winds. They would go back with the south winds. Some Yolngu didn’t like them as they stole the women, but they liked to trade with them. They would have separate camps when they stayed here. My great-grandmother married captain Marliwa (Daeng Mallewa) and they went back to live with him and she had her family over there. She died over there but always talked about her family at Takirrina. This picture makes me remember my other Indonesian family. It is part of our history.”
(Story told by Sylvia Mulwanany Burarrwanga, 1998)