Artist: Beerbee Mungnari
Title: Goorlloordoorook (Little Pigeon)
Size:140cm x 100cm
Date:2003
Language Group: Gija, Naringman
Description: The area featured in this painting is call Goorlloordoorook by the Gija people. It is named after the bush call of the little rock pigeon which inhabits the area. To the right of Goorlloordoorook hill is a spring, known by stockman and drovers as Sideline Bore, an important and reliable source of fresh water. In the foreground of the picture is Sugar Spring, a swampy area that attracts bird life to the area. Among the hills in the foreground is a large cave which, prior to white settlement, was struck by lightening causing the cave roof to collapse. A large number of aboriginal people were camped in the cave at the time and there were many fatalities.
Biography of Artist: Beerbee (pronounced “Birribee”) was born at Waterloo Station, Northern Territory about 1933. He was a stockman in the Kimberley’s, variously working as a contract musterer on stations such as Waterloo, Rosewood, and Texas Downs. Much of this area was flooded when the Ord River Dam was constructed in 1966. These lost places are depicted in many of his works. For many years Beerbee shared a house with his two friends, Jack Britten and Henry Wambini. He now lives with his large family at Frog Hollow, south of Texas Downs Station. Beerbee recalls catching pigeons at Goorlloordoorook, plucking them and cooking them in the fire coals.
