Brolga Girlby Shirley Collins
The Brolga was created by a wicked man that could not marry the best dancer in the community so he decided to steal her to be his woman! He throw his magic dust onto the young girl “Brolga”, he then quickly spun himself into a whirlwind and the young girl was spiraled upwards into the sky never to be seen again, he put in her place a dancing bird that the community had never seen before and it danced just like the young girl Brolga, so now we now know it as the Dancing Brolga.
$250.00 inc. GST
About the artist
“Shirley Collins (Yumala)
Shirley Collins parents were Aboriginal people. Her mothers’ side is both Aboriginal / English from the Eastern Arrernte from the Northern Territory. Her father’s side is both Aboriginal and German; however she grew up acknowledging only her Aboriginal Culture. She is a Pitta Pitta woman from Boulia in Western Queensland, her totem is the Brolga, and her traditional name in Pitta Pitta language is “Yum-ala” meaning eldest sister; Shirley uses this name to sign off her artwork.
Her work has been included in the annual Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) from 2009 – 2014. Her work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland State Library, and Townsville City Council.
She is a founding member of the Murris in Ink artists, a printmaking group based from Umbrella Studio. In 2010 MII were invited to create a folio of works for CIAF 2011. The collection titled Ngapa Kai Kai (water/food) was launched at the Art Fair and toured with Artslink (formally the Queensland Arts Council) throughout Queensland and New South Wales since 2011. Her work has been featured in Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, The Cultural Centre Townsville and Umbrella Studio in group exhibitions.”
