ABORIGINAL DESERT ART  GALLERY

DAVID MOOLOOLOO

Area: Ngukkurr
Country: Naiyarindji
Clan: Barbil
Moiety: Mambal
Totem: Bandiyan

David started painting when he was a young boy.

"Maybe I was six years old he says, my grandfather Donald and Fred Blitner would be painting on bark and we kids would sit around him and watch him grind the ochre’s and mix the colours, after a while he would tell us the story for that particular painting and also teach us the songs and dance for that story. When he was in a very good mood, he let us paint the sides of the bark painting, that was my and my brother's start."

"My country NAIYARINDJI and the community NGUKKURR is approximately 270 km Southeast of Katherine, N.T. on the Roper River, now called the Yugul Mangl Community."

Many good painters emerged from that community and are represented in most major Australian and over sees galleries. It has taken David and his brother Edward many years to learn to paint the stories and the Dreamings, past on to him and his brother by his grandfather. David is also a accomplished woodcarver, some of David's bird carvings stand 2 meters high and are fully decorated and cross hatched. David has also painted alongside Paddy Fordam, a highly accomplished and respected artist from the Arnhem Land area.

Other members of his clan ( Barbil ) taught him how to make flint Spear heads, traditional hunting boomerangs and most importantly how to hunt, fish, find bush tucker and make bush Medicine to survive in the Bush.

David has painted for the Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery (Michael Hollow), Alice Springs, since 1992.