This clip shows Marrfurra, a local artist, talking about the history and the present-day life of the Nauiyu Nambiyu community (formerly known as the Daly River Mission) in the Northern Territory. There is footage of the Daly River, and women collecting bush tucker and working in the Merrepen Arts Centre. Marrfurra talks about creating the Arts Centre for women, and says that the loss of Elders in the community is ‘why we are painting our stories’. Her narration is accompanied by English subtitles and women are heard singing in language throughout the clip.

Educational value points

• Marrfurra explains the significance of the Merrepen Arts Centre. She says that it enables women to tell their stories and pass their cultural knowledge to the younger generation through artworks, at a time when ‘there are not enough Elders left’ in the community. Merrepen Arts Centre was established in 1986 and is named after the plant that women use to make dillybags.
• The clip highlights the strong connection of Indigenous people to their traditional lands. Marrfurra emphasises that Nauiyu is ‘not where we come from’ and that, although the younger people were born in Nauiyu and live there, it is not their country. After missionaries arrived, the old people had moved to the mission at Nauiyu from their country, ‘the other side of the river’.
• The clip reveals the different language groups that over time have come to live in the Nauiyu community. Nangikurrunggurr and Ngenkiwumerri are the two main traditional languages of the Daly River area. Other languages of the area are also used, including Mullukmulluk, the language of the traditional owners. In the 1990s ownership of the land was returned to the Mullukmulluk people.
• The clip records women harvesting bush tucker, including pink waterlily seed pods, crocodile eggs and berries. The gathering of food fulfils more than a survival or economic need; these activities are also a continuation of cultural practices that are often represented in artworks.
• As well as providing a rich source of food the river plays a central role in the clip, reflecting its importance to the community for cultural and social purposes. The river is renowned for its abundance of fish and for being a good place to hunt freshwater turtles and crocodiles and to harvest their eggs.
• In the clip Marrfurra introduces herself by her Aboriginal name; she is also known as Patricia Marrfurra MacTaggart. She has co-written a book on Aboriginal use of plants in the Daly River area and recorded the Mullukmulluk language in a dictionary and thesaurus. In 2005 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her work in preserving this Indigenous knowledge.

This clip talks about the various ways Indigenous peoples are coping with the loss of knowledge and tradition, the consequence of losing elders who hold that knowledge. The arts centre is more than a place to get together to paint and weave; it is a repository of knowledge.

Merrepen Synopsis

A documentary about the gathering of the leaves and berries from the Merrepen plant by Indigenous women from the Nauiya community on the Daly River to make dilly bags and baskets.

Curator's Notes

A wonderful documentary about the making of dilly bags and baskets. The observational style captures the ancient tradition of collecting the leaves, which are stripped and eventually coloured by dye made from the berries of the plant. The Merrepen Arts Centre in Daly River was created to develop a space where women can practice their cultural knowledge, preserve traditions and find ways to pass them all on. The gathering and preparation of the raw materials, from which the dilly bags are made, represents a tradition that is thousands of years old. The baskets, however, are a more recent skill introduced by the missionaries.

This program has also screened on NITV, National Indigenous Television.

Notes by Romaine Moreton