Macassan (traders and praus) by Alice Durilla L

Macassan Screen Print by Alice Durilla

Unisex Adult Tee Size: EU L / US M

Indonesian and Melanesian cultures influenced the art in style, subject matter and materials of the north coast for centuries. Macassan traders visited the northern shores of Australia between 1600 and 1900. Rock paintings on Groote Eylandt shows a Macassan prau in full sail. Macassans travelling from Sulawesi were the first known foreign people to visit Groote Eylandt. For 300 years or more until 1908, seasonal fishermen came to the archipelago. They arrived in fleets of praus on the Barra wind, the north-west monsoons, and left on the Mamarika wind, the south-east trade wind. The Warnindilyakwa traded fishing rights and labour for steel knives, axes, cloth and beads, dugout canoes, pipes, tobacco and tamarind. Macassan influences remain strong in art and language today. A common image is the Macassan prau and dolphins, as these boats were very common around the Groote Eylandt archipelago where dolphins were seen swimming next to the prau. There are many detailed paintings of Indonesian and Melanesian cultures influenced the art in style, subject matter and materials of the north coast for centuries. Macassan traders visited the northern shores of Australia between 1600 and 1900. There are many detailed paintings of Macassan praus in the caves of Groote Eylandt – a unique record of the centuries of regular interaction and intermarriage between Macassan traders and the people of northern Australia. A common image is the Macassan prau and dolphins, as these boats were very common around the Groote Eylandt archipelago where dolphins were seen swimming next to the prau.
Macassans travelling from Sulawesi were the first known foreign people to visit Groote Eylandt. For 300 years or more until 1908, seasonal fishermen came to the archipelago. They arrived in fleets of praus on the Barra wind, the north-west monsoons, and left on the Mamarika wind, the south-east trade wind. These winds are depicted by a shape that resembled the prau sail. The Arnindilyakwa traded fishing rights and labour for steel knives, axes, cloth and beads, dugout canoes, pipes, tobacco and tamarind. Macassan influences remain strong in art and language today.
Today the Anindilyakwa, as well as Yolngu from the mainland, identify closely with their Indonesian neighbours and acknowledge the place of Macassan culture within their own social and cultural matrix. Dolphin and Mijiyanga (boat) and Dumbala (sail) are totems for the Bara Bara, Wurramarrba, Dingala and Nundhirribala clan groups.