Visit Makarrki, Sally Gabori’s brother’s country

Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori lived an entirely traditional life for her first 23 years, moving between her family’s main homeland sites and living according to an unbroken ancestral culture. In 1948, following devastating drought, storms and a near four-metre tidal surge, she and her kin were moved to nearby Mornington Island. In our series on her work we look at her brother’s country.

DELVE DEEPER: The life and art of Sally Gabori

Sally Gabori ‘Makarrki – King Alfred’s Country’

Birmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1942 / Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.c.1924-2015 / Warthadangathi Bijarrba Ethel Thomas, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1946 / Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1929 -2008 / Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.c.1937 / Wirrngajingathi Bijarrb Kurdalalngk Dawn Naranatjil, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia 1935-2009 / Rayarriwarrtharrbayingathi Mingungurra Amy Loogatha, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1942 / Makarrki – King Alfred’s Country 2008 / Synthetic polymer paint on linen / 200 x 600cm / Purchased 2009 with funds from Professor John Hay AC and Mrs Barbara Hay through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © The artists

Birmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1942 / Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.c.1924-2015 / Warthadangathi Bijarrba Ethel Thomas, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1946 / Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1929 -2008 / Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.c.1937 / Wirrngajingathi Bijarrb Kurdalalngk Dawn Naranatjil, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia 1935-2009 / Rayarriwarrtharrbayingathi Mingungurra Amy Loogatha, Artist, Kaiadilt people, Australia b.1942 / Makarrki – King Alfred’s Country 2008 / Synthetic polymer paint on linen / 200 x 600cm / Purchased 2009 with funds from Professor John Hay AC and Mrs Barbara Hay through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © The artists / View full image

In 2007, inspired by a return to Country, Sally led a monumental effort to map many important Kaiadilt places through three epic six metre long collaborative paintings alongside her sisters and nieces — Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi, Wirrngajingathi Bijarrb Kurdalalngk Dawn Naranatjil, Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Kurdalalngk Paula Paul, Rayarriwarrtharrbayingathi Mingungurra Amy Loogatha, Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha and Warthadangathi Bijarrba Ethel Thomas — all of whom were born on Bentinck before the exodus.

The incredibly exuberant works focused on three subjects: Dulka Warngiid and mapping Bentinck Island through their dulkiiwatha (the places they were born and the ties that bind them to those places); Sweers Island, the second largest of the islands of their Kaiadilt Country, including the final resting place of Dibirdibi, the Rock Cod Ancestor; and Makarrki (King Alfred’s Country), mapping the place of King Alfred, a key figure in all of the artists’ lives.

Makarrki is a very special place and has a big river that runs through it. This is where dugong and turtles come on a high tide making it easy for the men to catch them. Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori

The head of the Makarrki River, at the heart of the northern shore of Bentinck Island, was an important hunting ground and Sally often recalled the exploits of her brother (or brother-in-law) Tarurukingathi Kulkitji (Buddy) wrestling with dugongs here. It was also the country of her older brother, Makarrkingathi Dingkarringathi Thuwathu Bijarrb (King Alfred). King Alfred was the leader of the main Kaiadilt clan in the years prior to their removal to Mornington Island. He is remembered by his family as a strong warrior and leader.

Visit Sally Gabori’s world to understand her deep connection to Bentinck Island.

Explore Sally Gabori’s Bentinck Island online interactive

In the late 1940s a period of great drought caused tremendous friction within Kaiadilt society and conflict was common. In a fateful turn of events King Alfred took the life of Buddy, before Buddy’s brother, Kabararjingathi Bulthuku Pat Gabori killed the King and took his younger sister, Sally, as his wife. Sally’s paintings of this place are layered with complex memories and intense emotions.

Sally and her sisters and nieces who collaborated on Makarrki – King Alfred’s Country 2008 (illustrated) have said:

We have painted one of the most important places on Bentinck Island. This is where King Alfred was born. This is his country. King Alfred was Sally’s big brother…. He was famous as a strong warrior and leader; he was feared by other tribes. This place is special to all seven of us. We all have close connection to this country. That is why we picked it as painting for us to do together.


The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Gallery stands in Brisbane. We pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past and present and, in the spirit of reconciliation, acknowledge the immense creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.

It is customary in many Indigenous communities not to mention the name or reproduce photographs of the deceased. All such mentions and photographs on the QAGOMA Blog are with permission, however, care and discretion should be exercised.

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    Sally Gabori’s ‘Makarrki’ is layered with memories of home

    Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori was born by a small tidal creek around 1924 on the south side of Bentinck Island, of the South Wellesley Island Group in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Far North Queensland. Her Kayardild language name, Mirdidingkingathi, means ‘born at Mirdidingki’, her country on Bentinck Island, and Juwarnda means ‘dolphin’, her totem. Gabori began painting in 2005, around the age of eighty, her immediate love of paint, and the full spectrum of colour offered to her, triggered an outpouring of ideas including depicting her country and her ancestral stories. Whilst her works could immediately be recognised as abstraction, on closer inspection, the country, colour and mind’s eye combine to impart to the viewer a real and intimate sense of who Gabori is, and where she is from. Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori ‘Makarrki’ Makarrki 2008 is a major, large-scale painting from a period when Gabori’s technique and confidence developed exponentially. As she continued to paint, Gabori established a unique painting style, where she would lock her brush firmly into her hand and paint with a gestural action initiated by her shoulder. Her highly energetic movements suited painting on larger surfaces and through 2008 many vibrant, tropical toned works were produced in scales between three to six metres in length. Gabori’s paintings of Makarrki are layered with complex memories and intense emotions. The head of the Makarrki River, at the heart of the northern shore of Bentinck Island, was an important hunting ground and Gabori often recalled the exploits of her ‘brother’ (brother-in-law) Tarurukingathi Kulkitji (Buddy) wrestling with dugongs there. It was also the country of her older brother, Makarrkingathi Dingkarringathi Thuwathu Bijarrb (King Alfred). DELVE DEEPER: The life and art of Sally Gabori Although this work, as with many of Gabori’s works, was not directly interpreted by the artist, a number of recurrent symbols and styles are present. At the right is a solid dark oval form, surrounded by bands of colour radiating outward, indicating one of the many small islands at the river mouth, being embraced by lapping water as it races in or out of this great tidal estuary or a dugong creating ripples on the surface of the water as it breaks the surface. To the left is a complex arrangement of geometric forms, most likely indicating the rock-walled fish traps that line the mouth of the river near Gabori’s family’s camp. The 144 page illustrated publication Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori: Dulka Warngiid / Land of All is available from the QAGOMA Store and online Makarrki 2008 can be viewed as part of the Gallery’s Australian art display in the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries, Queensland Art Gallery. The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Gallery stands in Brisbane. We pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past and present and, in the spirit of reconciliation, acknowledge the immense creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country. It is customary in many Indigenous communities not to mention the name or reproduce photographs of the deceased. All such mentions and photographs on the QAGOMA Blog are with permission, however, care and discretion should be exercised.
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    Dibirdibi Country

    Aboriginal artist Sally Gabori (c.1924–2015) is one of the most important Australian painters and her work Dibirdibi Country 2012 is among the best of her works. Here, we touch on some of the history behind the artist and her radiant painting. Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori was born around 1924 on the south side of Bentinck Island, of the South Wellesley Island Group in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Her Kaiadilt language name, Mirdidingkingathi, means ‘born at Mirdidingki’, and Juwarnda is her totem, the dolphin. Bentinck, inhabited for thousands of years by the Kaiadilt, was officially ‘discovered’ in 1623 by Jan Carstensz, commander of the ship Pera, and it was also one of the first parts of the Gulf of Carpentaria surveyed in detail by the explorer Matthew Flinders in 1802. After Flinders’s brief encounter, the Kaiadilt had relatively little contact with the settler society over the following 145 years. ARTWORK STORIES: Delve into QAGOMA’s Collection artwork highlights for a rich exploration of the work and its creator In the late 1940s, however, severe drought and high tides affected low-lying Bentinck Island and soon the entire population was moved to Mornington Island. As a minority in the Lardil community on Mornington Island, the Kaiadilt were often excluded or forgotten during the various painting and art movements that occurred there. Gabori’s tenacity and seniority established a space for the women of her tiny community to paint and gave them a voice through art. Sally Gabori began painting as an octogenarian in 2005 at Mornington Island Art Centre. Her immediate love of paint — the full spectrum of colour offered to her — triggered an outpouring of energy; her confident paintings of country quickly gaining her the recognition of the art world. While her works were and still are largely seen as abstraction, they are highly idiosyncratic mind mapped landscapes, in which layers of understanding of her place are loosely transcribed. A closer look reveals how country, colour and the mind’s eye combine to impart an intimate sense of who Sally Gabori is and where she is from. ARTISTS & ARTWORKS: Explore the QAGOMA Collection Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori ‘Dibirdibi Country’ 2012 The focus of this work is Gabori’s favourite location, and the land, songs and narratives associated with Dibirdibi (the Rock Cod ancestor) that Gabori maintained along with her husband Dibirdibi (Pat Gabori), before moving to Mornington Island. Now a nonagenarian, Gabori’s paintings have gradually become more restrained. The Gallery’s earlier large-scale work by Gabori, Dibirdibi Country 2008, is a complex and vibrant painting; no less than six clashing and complementary colours intertwine to depict the rockwalled fish traps and sea country of Dibirdibi. Yet this work, painted just four years later, uses only two colours — a dark navy blue and white — to mark the physical, metaphysical and cultural landscape of the area’s saltpans. Gabori has stated, ‘This is the big saltpan on my husband’s country on Bentinck Island’. Restraining her palette, Sally Gabori surrenders nothing of her energy and power. Her supreme knowledge, experiences, her sense of longing and loss, and her deep love of country all radiate from this incredibly beautiful painting. Bruce Johnson McLean is former Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, QAGOMA The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land upon which the Gallery stands in Brisbane. We pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past and present and, in the spirit of reconciliation, acknowledge the immense creative contribution Indigenous people make to the art and culture of this country. It is customary in many Indigenous communities not to mention the name of the deceased. All such mentions and photographs on the QAGOMA Blog are with permission, however, care and discretion should be exercised.
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