Dean Tyson, ‘ A N C I E N T W E A P O N R Y ’, 2 0 2 3

"A flying boomerang, a singing boomerang, and a hunting/fighting boomerang alongside a club/digging stick and a stone axe are stenciled in clay and ochre. This story painting ‘Ancient weaponry’ (2023) is a tribute to how our ancestors and our culture that had to survive and now thrive. On a background representing the nighttime sky, the red lines represent bloodshed but at the same time the bloodlines of those families of staunch warriors and matriarchs. The turquoise coloring represents the present times and the passing of traditions to younger people and keeping it alive. Once artefacts were taken sadly without permissions, some as a trophy or in the name of study. In the present decades we have seen repatriation or returned stolen goods finally taken back where they belong, many are still waiting to come home. Today our old artefacts also aid us in the fight of our Aboriginal people but in different futuristic ways, some of these include archaeologist science, environmental science and engineering triumphs of the world. Our ancient weaponry links us to country. Ngali Jarra (we are country).