'Paraku and Walmajarri People' by Veronica Lulu, 2007

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Paintings
Date: 2007
Place: Mulan, Western Australia, Australia; Canning Stock Route, Australia
Materials: Acrylic paint, Linen
Collection: Canning Stock Route collection no. 1
Accession number: 2008.0041.0004

Description

A square painting on brown linen with a yellow orange background and a wavy blue line flanked by a row of black dots then a thick green line in the centre. The yellow background is covered in yellow, orange, maroon and black dots, and has beige and white footprints in groups on both sides of the central feature. There are also semicircles in black edged with white dots, with an oval, similarly decorated, inside each one, on both sides of the central feature. There is a stamp with text in the bottom left corner which reads 'Cat# 160 / form. / The / Canning / Stock / Route / Project'. Along the bottom edge is the text '45 x 45 VL/160/PAR' and '1' in the bottom right corner.

"This is the lake and the Walmajarri people. This mob were living by the lake, my ancestors, my father's family, on their Country. This other mob came from the desert to Paruku and Nyarna [Lake Stretch] when their water run out, and meet up with Walmajarri people. They shared food and bush tucker. They were family too, they worked together with stockmen. My family came in from Walkali [in the desert]. After stock work [finished] they went separate ways: some to Balgo, some to Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and stations." [Veronica Lulu]

About the collection

The Canning Stock Route collection is comprised of 125 works and includes paintings, drawings, baskets, boomerangs, coolamons, headdresses, carved figures and shields. The Canning Stock Route is a no-longer-used cattle droving route that traverses the Great Sandy and Gibson Deserts of central Western Australia. Comprised of 48 wells along an 1800 kilometres stretch of track, the route links Wiluna in the south with Sturt Creek in the north and traverses the traditional lands of nine Aboriginal language groups. The route was founded in 1905 when Alfred Canning was commissioned to investigate a route suitable for the droving of 500 head of cattle, with water sources spaced at intervals of no more than one day's walk apart. Although Canning's map records observations of the land and water resources, it makes no mention of Indigenous places and their associated meanings which the route traversed. This collection, composed of 'painting stories', sculptural works and oral histories, re-dresses Canning's omission and records the impact of the stock route on Indigenous lives and country. A six week journey with traditional owners held in July and August of 2007 inspired the artworks, many of which were produced during the journey, and provided an opportunity for more than 70 senior and emerging artists to reconnect with traditional lands..

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:44:30 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-08-18. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.