Nimbuwah - NT

Towering into the sky and dominating the surrounding country, Nimbuwah is an outlier near the western Arnhem Land escarpment. Nimbuwah is a sacred site for the Kunwinjku people.

The Rainbow Serpent Ngalyod shown in the rock represents the spirits of his first ancestor who has always lived there and is one of the main reasons why Nimbuwah and its surrounds should never be disturbed.

Nimbuwah rock is shown in the centre of this painting. The boulder on its top represents Nimbuwah’s head and the bottom section, his body. His mother’s spirit is in the rock on his right, and the spirit of his young wife is in the rock on his left. These rocks and the area in front of them are sacred and must not be approached without permission from the traditional owners, but the artist states that the area behind Nimbuwah is not sacred. It was there he spent most of his childhood, living in a cave with his family. His father taught him the story of this sacred site and how to record it in painting, so that the deeds of Nimbuwah would live on forever