Mewal - The Honey Ancestor (AB33)

Year: c.1980

Size: 140 x 70cm
acrylic on bark

Mewal, the honey ancestor and his wife are depicted as they travelled through the bush at Blue Mud Bay in North-East Arnhem Land with their digging sticks, pandanus dilly bags and other implements used for collecting honey from the sugar bag beehive. 

The cone shapes in the painting are Mewal’s special dilly bags, which are tightly woven to hold the honey. Depicted also are stone axes and the oblong shapes are Mewal’s digging sticks. 

As Mewal and his wife journeyed they met the Crow Spirit and that of the Friar Bird. To get honey they cut trees down, and as the trees fell they created rivers. The frill necked lizard, the marbled gecko and the stinging caterpillar live in these trees and they are symbolized by the patterns on the dilly bags.

As Mewal travelled he taught the people his laws and ceremonies and left a spiritual life force in the land wherever he camped.