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Artist
William Barak
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Born
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Died
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Title
Barak, William
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Date of Production
circa 1895
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Medium
Ochres, watercolourm and pencil
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Dimensions
56.3 x 78.7 cm (irregular)
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Credit Details
Gift of Mrs Anne Fraser Bon, 1934
William Barak
Barak, William
Born at Yarra Glen in Victoria, William Barak, a member of the
Wurundjeri clan of the Woiwurung people, is said to have witnessed
the signing of John Batman's Treaty with the Aboriginal
people. An authority on the tribal lore of his people,
Barak had no formal art training in the European sense but he
produced a number of works in charcoal and ochre of items and
activities considered to be important to the Aboriginal people
such as this corroborree.
In 2003, Joy Murphy Wandin, in her acknowledgement of her
Uncle's work at the exhibition Remembering Barak, referred
to "the men and women dressed in traditional possum skin cloaks…,
the young men performing dance using boomerangs, the two fires
representing the "table" of decision (and) the importance and place
of animals…..". This reference could well have been to Ceremony as
it contains all the elements that she describes. This work -
the earliest by an indigenous artist to enter this collection - was
given to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by Anne Fraser Bon, one of
Barak's closest European friends.