State Library of South Australia logo Mountford-Sheard Collection
SA Memory. South Australia past and present, for the future




07. Painting of a sea eagle
Title : 07. Painting of a sea eagle 07. Painting of a sea eagle View More Images
A description from Mountford's journal.

Add To My SA Memory
Source : PRG 1218/35/1574
Date of creation : 1948
Additional Creator : Mountford, Charles P. (Charles Pearcy), 1890-1976
Dimensions : 25 x 35 mm
Contributor : State Library of South Australia
Catalogue record
The State Library of South Australia is keen to find out more about SA Memory items. We encourage you to contact the Library if you have additional information about any of these items.
Copyright :

The Library received cultural clearance from the Umbakumba Community Council Inc, Groote Eylandt, to display this image. Reproduction rights are owned by State Library of South Australia.
This image may be printed or saved for personal research or study. Use for any other purpose requires permission from the State Library of South Australia and the Umbakumba Community Council Inc.
To request approval, complete the Permission to publish form.
Description :

Colour photograph of a bark painting created for C. P. Mountford on Groote Eylandt during the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, artist unknown. The painting depicts the mythical sea eagle Iniwakada (Haliastur indus Sp.).


In Volume 1 of Records of the American-Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land, the following description of the Sea Eagle is given on page 67:
'The sea-eagle, iniwakada, starting from Wunda-Wunda, near Bennett Bay, was flying towards Groote eylandt when at Anabura-madja, just off the south-eastern corner of Bickerton Island, he saw and caught a gar-fish, maracuru. The sea-eagle carried the gar-fish first to Bartalumba Point, then southward along the western coast of Groote Eylandt to Neira-madja, on the lower south-western corner. After the sea eagle had eaten the fish he collected many sticks, and built himself a nest on the cliff. Today, that nest is a pillar of rock many feet in height.'

Journal entry is from PRG 1218/17/18, page 68
Subjects
Related names :

American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, (1948)
Coverage year : 1948
Place : Arnhem Land
Region : Northern Territory
Further reading :

Adam, Leonhard, The bark paintings of Groote Eylandt (Gulf of Carpentaria) in the Melbourne University collection, Basle : Museum fur Volkerkunde, 1951

American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, (1948). Records of the American-Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land, Melbourne : Melbourne University Press, 1956-1964

Berndt, Ronald M. and Phillips, E. S. (eds). The Australian Aboriginal heritage : an introduction through the arts, 2nd ed, Sydney : Australian Society for Education through the Arts in association with Ure Smith, 1978, particularly pages 216, 217, 221.

Lamshed, Max. 'Monty' : the biography of C.P. Mountford, Adelaide : Rigby, 1972

May, Sally K. Collecting cultures : myth, politics, and collaboration in the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, Lanham, Md. : AltaMira Press, 2010
Internet links :
Web Links:

Angurugu Community Government Council - Groote Eylandt Community

Navigation

Home

About SA Memory

Explore SA Memory

SA Memory Themes

Search

My SA Memory

Learning

What's on

Contributors