1947 - present

Dhurritjini (Terry) Yumbulul is an Indigenous artist whose mosaic work, drawn from one of his paintings, graced the floor of the Bondi Pavilion from the 1980s. Yulumbul is a leading Australian artist and his work at Bondi appears to be among the first examples of an Indigenous artwork translated into the mosaic medium.

Yumbulul is from Elcho Island in the Wessel Islands off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. He is a traditional owner of 36 islands.

Yumbulul’s work - including painted canvases, bark art and painted pole sculptures - has been included in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and features in gallery collections.

Much of Yumbulul’s work depicts creation stories from the Wessel Islands. Cultural protocols hold that he is the only person with the authority to paint some sacred designs and certain stories in specific ways. This traditional knowledge depicted was passed to him after a process of teaching and revelation from his father and grandfather.

Yumbulul’s sculpture Morning Star Pole, now in the Australian Museum, was used in the design of the commemorative $10 note produced to mark the 1988 bicentenary of European arrival. It was the world’s first polymer bank note.

Morning star poles, which are decorated with sacred designs, are items of cultural significance, playing a central role in ceremonies that mark the death of a community member and link their spirits to their ancestral home.

Use of his pole design on the $10 note later became the subject of a court case. The judge noted the limits of the Copyright Act in providing protection for the artist, his work and, more significantly, his community, who had given permission for the pole design’s display for educational purposes. The judge said: “It may be that Australia’s copyright law does not provide adequate recognition of Aboriginal community claims to regulate the reproduction and use of works which are essentially communal in origin.” The note was withdrawn in 1993.

Yumbulul first exhibited his work at the Bondi Pavilion Gallery in 1983. During this project, he collaborated with local non-Indigenous artists Lloyd Kelemen and Justin Robson to create two Indigenous-themed floor mosaics in the Pavilion. Ceramic tiles fired in the Bondi Pavilion Pottery Studios were used. The works featured a goanna in its nest and fish on a striped diamond pattern.