Helen McCarthy
Born: Tennant Creek
Date: 1972
Life: Traditional and western
Language: Njanggiwumirri and Njanggikurunggurr
Career Starts: 1990’s
Home: Balgal Northern Territory
Dreamings:
Marruty (Crab)- Totem
When the World Began
Other Stories:
Tyemeny Liman’s Wutinggi (Grandpa Harry’s Canoe)
Were Ngayi Diwin (My Brother The Moon)
Merrepen (Traditional Sand Palm)
Kapuk (Burning Rag Ceremony)
Dakarrany (Man and Two Wives)
Awurrapun (Saltwater Crocodiles)
Yengi Kerre (Fire Bird)
Malarragu (Hunting Turtle in the Dry Season)
Tyek Tyek (Welcome to My Land)
Wapun (Baby Basket)
Syaw (Fish net)
Yenggi (Fire)
Yenggi Tandwar ( Underground cooking for ceremony)
Dede Nayimime (Our Country)
Wara ( Wrapping body in paperbark)
Yanggiba (Paperbark)
Wannga (Song for special ceremony)
Mimrungga (Bush Tucker)
Akurr Ninji Ninji (Traditional knowledge for survival and protection in the bush)
Medjengibin (Roasting Meat in a ground oven)
Ninji Ningi - Awurrapun Amurri (Bush Secrets – Crocodile Egg Collecting Time)
Dunymaya ( Prayer for babies and mothers)
Introduction
Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty was born in 1972 in Tennant Creek. Her mother is Aboriginal born in Binbinyah near Balgul, her father Irish. She takes her Aboriginal heritage from her mother’s ancestry, the Wadjigan Tribe. She belongs to the Batjamal language group and her totem is the mud crab. Helen speaks the languages of the Pepperminarti area: Njanggiwumirri and the Daly River (Nauiyu Nambiyu) area: Njanggikurunggurr. Her favorite stories involve her grandfather Harry’s canoe and the moon. Her paintings give expression to a wide range of traditional mythologies and knowledge in her region. In these she explores a myriad of relationships and events that link her beliefs to the natural world and its cycles.
Helen was schooled in Daly River and Darwin. She continued her education at Mt Saint Bernard College in far north Queensland before completing a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Deakin University, graduating in 1994. Her talent as an artist was apparent from a relatively early age, topping classes in 11th and 12th grade. She remembers fondly her much loved art teacher. Mrs Stibbs encouragingly said to her, “one day you’ll make it in art”. Her love of landscapes and portraits developed and evolved throughout her artistic career. Right through her tertiary studies and career as a primary school teacher she painting informally. She entered her first art festival in 1993.
Helen was first invited to paint professionally by John Ioannou of Agathon Galleries. After several years under his tutelage she won the prestigious Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s Choice Award in 2007 for her painting of “Pa Harry’s Canoe” (Tyemeny Liman’s Wutinggi). Helen: “John gave me canvas, paint and brushes, occasional direction and just kept encouraging me. He has been fantastic to work for.” Helen’s artistic success has been recognised in her selection as a finalist in the 2008 Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. A distinguishing characteristic of her style are veils of very fine dotting skillfully applied as overlays or infill for highly colourful backgrounds. Her works have been exhibited in solo exhibitions in Agathon galleries in Sydney and Melbourne and internationally in Singapore.
Today as a full time painter and initiated woman, Helen pursues a balanced professional life, spending time in Darwin where her 7 year old son goes to school and her family homelands at Balgal. Here, surrounded by a tropical landscape, the sea and the life of a very small family community she is at her happiest. The place from where she paints, a large open shed is 800 metres from the sea. Stretching to either side is a long fine sandy beach, rimmed by tall white gum, stringy bark, coconut palms and “bush tucker trees”. A sparkling flat blue sea stretches out into the distance, and nearby, two small islands Bokepene and Badjalarr, are in clear view. Typically when Helen paints, there is no drawing beforehand. She paints directly onto canvas. She may wake up with ideas from the day before and when the feeling is right will pick up on these and then “go with the flow”, until the work is complete. She may work till the very early hours of the morning.
Painting Stories
Tyemeny Liman’s Wutinggi (Grandpa Harry’s Canoe)
Her grandfather has an almost mythic status for Helen. His canoe story, a favourite of Helen’s featured in many works has a profound spiritual power for her. Through painting his story she finds a connection to his spirit and his life that was so deeply tuned to the sea. Helen: “Today when I look out at the sea, I say, hello I’m back.”
Helen tells about the important role he played in protecting Australian soldiers in the forest during the world war two, teaching them how to survive, make fire and find food.
To his seven children and wife he was a devoted father who supported them through hunting and fishing the coastal lands of his country. They moved a lot, depending on ceremonies they attended, the weather, and where different types of food was available to hunt and gather. His effectiveness was no doubt due to his mastery of making sea worthy craft and knowing how to hunt. Tyemeny Liman was born at Mandjimamang in 1916. He is the eldest of the Wadjigan tribe. His Homeland is Balgal, situated on the coastal area, north of Darwin. This is where he lives today.
Helen’s grandfather was the best canoe maker in the region. Canoes would be fashioned from local kapok trees which he carefully selected from the forest. Each tree would be felled then dugout before rolling to the water to see if they would float. Helen’s famous story about her grandfather’s canoe tells of how this idyllic life in the forest came to an end. Particularly moving is the chapter where in a gesture of acknowledging, through no fault of his own, that he can no longer live with his family by the sea, he pushes his last canoe out to sea. As the spirits would have it, the canoe keeps returning, again and again, with him standing waist high in the sea trying to say his goodbye. It is a profoundly sad story for their family.
Helen’s grandfather was forced to leave his country because the government required all his children go to school. This was some distance away from his forest home. He took them to Delisiville where they were boarded away from their parents in dormitories. The government authorities then threatened to send him to Croker Island, but because he had such a large family allowed him to go to Daly River where he had friends from ceremony. He took his wife Rose and her sisters to live there in the bush. They were three and a half hours drive west from Delisiville so he was able to visit his children there from time to time. Some years later he finally returned to Balgal with his family.
Were Ngayi Diwin (My Brother The Moon)
Helen’s story about the moon was told to her by her grandfather when she asked him to hold her three month old son for the first time. After he had taken the child she said “I know you have two sisters but do you have any brothers?” He replied mysteriously by saying “I have only one brother who comes and goes and who always looks after me. He has shown me where to fish, hunt and how to find safety. He will always protect you too. I then asked him who this brother was and he said, “My only brother is the moon”. Helen explains how her grandfather explained this to her. Repeating his words she says: “He (my brother the moon) goes away and comes back, he helps me to see with his light. He provided the light that makes my journey in the canoe safe. It also allowed my mother to go to the water’s edge to find a shell to bring back to another mother to cut the umbilical chord.” She explained that he told her that the moon’s effect on the tides was his guide to when to go fishing. Several days before the full moon he would always fish and again several days after the full moon he would go to catch crayfish and have a great harvest. With his light he tells me when and where to fish, and where to canoe.”
Yanggiba (Paperbark)
Yanggiba refers to the many uses to which paperbark is used in Indigenous culture. It refers to the process of cooking or smoking food using the material as well as the process of wrapping the body of the deceased before putting high into a tree. It is also used for constructing a shelter. The bark is cut from the base of the tree where it is strong.
Wara ( Wrapping a Body in Paperbark)
Wara is about how family spirits come to reside in the forest. It refers to an ancient ritual used in the Daly River and the Top End of the Northern Territory where Helen McCarthy lives, of using the soft many layered paperbark material to wrap the body of a deceased person. When this is complete the shroud is placed high in the branches of a very strong tall tree. The spirit then leaves the body and is said to exist at the site of the tree. This site then becomes a special place where family members will come to speak to the spirit and ask for blessing, to keep them safe and to provide bush tucker or favour to ensure safe survival into the future.
Merrepen (Traditional Sand Palm)
Merrepen is about the cloth given to her family by Chinese fishermen in payment for the work they did in helping them to find fish. When members of her family fist went to Darwin they noted clothes for the first time and decided they too wanted to cover themselves up. The cloth was used to create sarongs which they then started to wear.
Kapuk (Burning Rag Ceremony)
Many paintings concern such ceremonial practices as Kapuk (Burning Rag Ceremony), a smoking ceremony performed a year after someone dies. These are both sad and happy occasions, with many people from all around coming together to dance, sing and feast to celebrate the departed. A large pit is dug ( perhaps outside the house of the deceased) into which all possessions of the departed are places. These are burnt and the hole covered in and vegetation grown over it. If an object of particular importance is required as a momento of the loved one, it is kept after first being purified by smoking. This is done by a nephew of the deceased who walks once around the burial pit to acquire the required blessing from the smoke. After this celebration, morning for the deceased officially ceases. The departed from then on is referred to in a positive way.
Dakarrany (Man and Two Wives)
Dakarrany relates to marriage practice within Aboriginal Law, when a man has two wives. It encourages women to find a gracious and harmonious way of living with and respecting each other.
Awurrapun (Crocodiles)
Awurrapun is a story about how a generous hunter and his wife get turned into the salt water crocodiles of a creek that runs into the Daly River. The hunter, after feeding his own family well with his kill, offers food to other women in the tribe. They talk about him fondly and create jealousy amongst the husbands who set a trap to kill him. On their next fishing trip together the men tie the hunter in a net and throw him into the creek. At the moment the body hits the water, the net merges into the hunter’s body and he turns into a crocodile. His wife hearing of this, also jumps into the creek in a net and she joins him as crocodile.
This story is offered as a warning to be respectful of crocodiles when in their territory because they are probably still angry from when in the Dreaming they were affronted by the behavior of some humans. It was passed on to Helen from her grandfather’s brother Mawuny through ceremony and is one that she passes on to her children and others. It refers to both the salt water and fresh water crocodiles in the Daly River. Salt water animals live close to the mouth of the river and cruise the beaches. One image for this theme is inspired by the plate like patterns and rough texture and colours of crocodile skin. Helen uses mud browns, pale greys, billabong greens and tropical, sea-blue turquoises to reflect the different habitats and colours of the animals. The patchwork of colour is connected by veils of while over dotting and the sense of animal rage is there in the delicate red and brown dotting that surrounds the individual skin plates.
Yengi Kerre (Fire Bird)
Yengi Kerre is an epic bushfire story about how the white cockatoo becomes black and red when its feathers are burnt by the sun. In this process the feathers of the white bird drop to the forest below which then starts a major fire that burns through vast stretches of country.
Malarragu (Hunting Fresh Water Turtle in the Dry Season)
Malarragu (Hunting Turtle in the Dry Season) gives metaphoric depiction to the different ways that turtle are hunted and caught in billabongs around the Top End of Australia. The September October period just before the wet season is when this practice is undertaken, just after the burn-off of the bush to reduce the growth around the waterholes. The billabongs are dry and the turtles hibernating in the mud or areas that are damp. Mindful not to take the little turtles, the hunters find the turtles in a range of ways. Angalin is the process of fishing for them. Tinngngigyirr refers to using a stick to prod the mud for the animal and Atyuurrtyurr describes walking through the water. Helen interprets this theme by using a red or orange background to evoke the burnt landscape. Circles are used to convey the presence of both the billabong and soakages as well as the turtles. Turtles can be depicted as dark grey with multi-coloured lines (white, pinks, purples, oranges) circling or covering them to convey water or flowers that grow profusely in the mud above where they are resting.
Tyek Tyek (Welcome to My Land)
Tyek Tyek is a water ceremony like a baptism which is traditional in welcoming a new person so that they are protected and enjoy their stay in a new country. The newcomer is taken to a river where an elder douses their head with a mouthful of water from the stream.
Wapun (Baby Basket)
Wapun details the many different aspects involved in making a baby basket. This includes collecting colours (e.g. roots for yellows, berries for purples) and mixing these with ash to change the hue, collecting the sand palm leaves that will be used in weaving and shaping the cradle form to hold the baby.
Syaw (Fish net)
The techniques of fishing and collecting fish, prawns, crayfish and turtles as well as the process the making nets is the subject of Syaw (Fish net) paintings. Weaving fish net is deeply rooted in Helen’s community at Balgal. Women are always making and patching nets, using the fibers of the Pandanus Palm. These are peeled off the upper and lower surface of the leaf then made into a thread by rolling them together on the upper legs. Painting the weaving process and the process of patching them, is symbolic to Helen of the process of fixing relationships where they breakdown and keeping everyone together in the family and community.
Wannga (Special Ceremonial Song)
In the Daly River region the Wangga is sung for the Kapuk (rag burning ceremony) to remove the spirit of the deceased person from their homelands by burning belongings in which the spirit lives. The second time the Wangga is sung is for a ceremony for boys. Red, brown, yellow and white ochre is collected near creeks and river banks and used for body paint. Men get dots on their legs and bodies and Women get dots around the eyes. The celebration can go on from late afternoon to evening, with singing and dancing.
Mimrungga (Bush Tucker)
Fruits and plants of the wet season from December to mid March are very bountiful in the artist’s homelands. The painting of this name refers to the bush tucker found in the tropical lands of the Daly River, Port Keats, Balgal and Timber Creek where the artist spends most of her time. It refers to mysyawuni (bush potato), misalga ( bush banana), miwulngini ( peanut sized nuts), mityikmuy ( dark black plums), mimeli ( dark red/purple cherry), midiri (green cherry), migaga (fig).
Akurr Ninji Ninji (Traditional knowledge for ceremony, survival and protection in the bush)
This theme refers to many aspects of tribal knowledge (harsh and dark to soft and good) that allow the people who live traditional bush dependent lives ‘to have protection from negative aspects of black fellow culture’ and to ensure that they and their families can live harmoniously and respectfully to other families and tribes.
Medjengibin (Roasting Meat in a ground oven)
This painting is about the process of cooking meat in an underground pit for a ceremony of feast. For a kangaroo the pit will be 1.5metre for a smaller animal, like a goose or crocodile .5 metres. Old ladies or men do the cooking. Firewood is placed into the pit and lit by flares. Large rocks are then placed into it and when the fire dies down the meat placed on a Wendili tree leaves soaked in water is then lowered into the pit. It is then covered with paper bark and dirt poured around the edges to seal it in and ensure not smoke comes out. The cooking continues for 2-3 hours. When cooked the soil is gently removed for the sides of the bark which is then removed layer by layer and to serve, the meat is lifted onto paperbark which is laid out on the ground.
Ninji Ninji Awarrapun Amurri (Bush Secrets – Seasonal time for Collecting Crocodile Eggs)
This painting theme reflects the elements of the bush which signal crocodile egg hunting time, usually around September The opening of the large red flowers (Walkity) of the Kapok trees indicate this. Local people go hunting for them at the edge of the river banks which are pile high with mounds under which the eggs are to be found. At the same time, the pink Miwuljgini flower in the billabongs. Collectors are cautioned to be careful when collecting as crocodiles lurk close by. The eggs are the size of duck eggs and covered with a hard shell. In December and January the crocodiles hatch.
Dunymaya (Prayer for Mothers and Babies)
This painting is a tribute to the prayers used by specific tribal groups near Balgul to seek help and good fortune for mothers and babies from the spirits of departed babies and mothers. It reflects the seeking of a very positive blessing.
Yenggi (Fire)
This titles describes the process of cooking food like kangaroo for ceremony or large family gatherings using a pit fire. The animal is placed in a pit with rocks and leaves and then slow cooked for a long time.
Yenggi Tandwar
This refers to a story about how fire came to the island of Bokepene (the smaller of the two islands opposite Balgul). Helen’s grandfather went to the island and was offered raw fish to eat. He didn’t like this so showed them a fire stick and how to use fire to cook. They subsequently went back to the island and created a bushfire with “big smoke” coming off the island.
Durrmu (Dots in Ochre)
Durrumu refers to the dotted white ochre marks used around the women’s eyes for dancing the Wangga which is accompanied by didgeridoo and clapstick rhythm.
Dede Nayimime (Our Country)
Dede Nayimime (Our Country) is a welcome to Helen’s country and a blessing to visitors that says we will look after you when you are in Balgal.
Others paintings tell of how her family live using the moon or other plants such as the red flowers of the kapok tree as guide to food collection. Natural indicators are used to indicate the right time for harvesting crocodile (Awerrmisya Amurri), goose eggs (Angani Amurri), fish, and crayfish.
Badjalarr (Rockpool on the Island)
This is a sacred dreaming site at Badjalarr rockpool which has a mysterious and threatening history associated with it that makes it off limits to all islanders. They never go there for fear of what will happen to them.
Painting Description
Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty’s delicate and detailed paintings are scintillating artistic orchestrations. On one level they not only parallel the extraordinary artistic finesse of mediaeval illuminated manuscripts but like them give access to an ancient mystical past.
Exhibitions
2009 Agathon Galleries Sydney NSW
2008 Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries Melbourne VIC
2007 Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries Sydney NSW
2006 Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries Melbourne VIC
2006 Singapore
Awards
Finalist 2008 Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award.
People's Choice Award at the 2007 Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award.
Bibliography
“Prize for ‘Pa Harry’s Canoe”, Northern Territory News, 22/9/2007, pp2.
Kelsey Munro, Sydney Morning Herald, 9/2006, pp16.
Jill Joliffe, “The language of learning”, The Age, 25/10.2004, pp4.
Marie Geissler, “Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty” Craft Arts International, No 74, pp.43-48.
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