Auchmuty Banner Project
Placemaking for our students, staff and community

The Auchmuty Banner Project celebrates the artwork of six contemporary Indigenous Australian women artists in the University’s Art Collection. Located at the forecourt entrance, the banners offer a welcoming and engaging facade for our students, staff and community.

With unique styles the artists explore themes of their Country, capturing the various undulations of knowledge, creation stories, the landscape and its significant sites, in artworks that are culturally and visually powerful. The original artworks have entered the University Collection through past collaborations and exhibitions with remote area Indigenous communities.

The Auchmuty Banner Project acknowledges the importance of the Auchmuty Library to Callaghan Campus, celebrates Indigenous culture and women artists, and recognises the importance of our art collection.

The University of Newcastle acknowledges the Pambalong Clan of the Awabakal Nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which this campus is situated, and acknowledges and pays respect to the other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations from which our students, staff and community are drawn.

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Ruby Tjangawa Williamson

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country)
2013
acrylic paint on linen
122 x 101.5 cm

Ruby Tjangawa Williamson (1940-2014) was a senior law woman in the Amata community, in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. In this work she paints the Ultukunpa or Honey Grevillea flower, which grows in the sandy soils on the plains of her Country.

This artist is represented by Tjala Arts.

Mary Napangardi Gallagher

Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) - Ngalyipi
2014
acrylic paint on canvas
91 x 76 cm

Mary Napangardi Gallagher is a Warlpiri artist working from Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. She has depicted a story from Mina Mina, a sacred women’s Dreaming site far to the west of Yuendumu near Lake Mackay and the Western Australian border. The owners of this Dreaming are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men.

This artist is represented by Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu.

Lillian Karnginytja Golding

Walu rockholes
2018
acrylic paint on canvas
101.6 x 50.8 cm

Lillian Karnginytja Golding (b.1970) is a Ngaanyatjarra artist from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in Western Australia. She paints her mother’s country of Walu, and all the rockholes that surround the area. The rockholes provided much needed water for her mother and family as they travelled from one to the next. There are strings of rockholes that are scattered off to the side of the Great Central Road, and they mark the pilgrimage lines that families would make through the lands.

This artist is represented by Warakurna Artists.

Judith Yinyika Chambers

Tjukurrpa Patirlpa Wadi (Parrot Men Dreaming) 2019
acrylic paint on canvas
76.2 x 40 cm

Judith Yinyika Chambers (b.1958) is Ngaanyatjarra artist from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in Western Australia. Tjukurrpa Patirlpa Wadi (Parrot Men Dreaming) is an important dreaming story from Warakurna. It tells of four men who went hunting for marlu (kangaroo) and through their fighting, turn into the many patiripa (parrots) which can now be seen throughout Warakurna.

This artist is represented by Warakurna Artists.

Dorcas Tinamayi Bennett

Pukurlpatulatju Palyara Pirrtja
2017
acrylic paint on canvas
101.6 x 50.8 cm

Dorcas Tinamayi Bennett (b.1956) is a Ngaanyatjarra artist from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in Western Australia. The title of her painting Pukurlpatulatju Palyara Pirrtja expresses her happiness at making paintings and the joy of sharing stories and artworks with others.

This artist is represented by Warakurna Artists.

Joyce Nyurapayia Maclean

Lapaku
2018
acrylic paint on canvas
101.6 x 50.8 cm

Joyce Nyurapayia Maclean (b.1938) is a Ngaanyatjarra artist originally from Mantamaru community (Jameson) in Western Australia. After painting at Papulankutja Artists at Blackstone, she now resides in Wanarn. Here she depicts the waterholes of Lapaku, a special place within the Rawlinson Ranges to the west of Warakurna.

This artist is represented by Warakurna Artists.

2019. All text and images copyright of the artists and their representative art centres.