Introducing Jacinta Walsh

Hi, My name is Jacinta Walsh. I am very proud to be the first Aboriginal artist to collaborate with Desk Buds to create three designs from my families Countries. I am speaking to you today from Wurundjeri Country, on Kulin Nation land, in Melbourne Australia.

My three sons and I are Jaru, Kitja and Yawuru, from the east, south and west Kimberley Regions of Western Australia. Yawuru Country is near the seaside township of Broome and Jaru and Kitja Countries are located about 7 hours’ drive inland from Broome; in a place now called Halls Creek.

About the art

Jacinta has created the art using watercolour on card. She has not used any digital processes to manipulate or 'improve' them. 

Sea Country Dreaming

Sea Country Dreaming is from the coastal waters of Yawuru Country near Broome WA, the country of my grandmother's father. This image captures the journey of new life for the newly hatched baby turtles as they head off into the sea.

In Western Australia, baby turtles, specifically the flatback and loggerhead species, can be seen nesting and hatching during the Yawuru season, known as Man-gala, from December to March. Their survival requires determination. This image is about youth, courage, and hope for the future. 

Sea Country Dreaming

Desert Country Dreaming

Desert Country Dreaming shows The semi-arid desert of the Jaru, Kitja people. It is rich in colour representing the red, deep oranges and yellow tinted earth and rocks that glow as the sun rises and sets each day.

This Country holds strong and ancient knowledge systems carried through ancient songlines and is the birthplace of my great grandmother Mabel Ita Eatts, née Frederick. Mabel was born in Lugangarna, Palm Springs, a year-round waterhole situated on Jaru Country. This waterhole is important to families in the region and is protected by the Great Rainbow Serpent. 

In Desert Dreaming, I honour the ancestors who have lived with and cared for Country for many thousands of years. From the wisdom of the ancestors and our Elders living now, I know that as we love and care for Country, she will love and care for us. Very proudly I know, the songlines from this Country run through the bloodlines of my three sons and I, and always will.

Desert Dreaming honours deep time, the bush turkeys we see flying above when we visit, the black and white spinifex grass that are scattered through the landscape, and the Rainbow Serpent Dreaming symbolised by the water python rainbow snake.

Desert Country

Sky Country Dreaming

Sky Country Dreaming is intended to be mystical and dance-like. Sky Country holds all our memories. She is incomprehensibly immense and infinite. In Australia, Aboriginal families nationwide have spent thousands of years studying her, developing ways to read and understand the knowledges she holds. The sky at night became a navigation tool, and star constellations are known to inform patterns of behaviour for all human and non-human life on earth. This image explores the mystical nature of our existence, of which we still have much to learn from.

Sky Country Dreaming

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