Gloria Gavenor

“My Mother told me that she is a Gungalida women from Burketown, she is a traditional owner of Gunmulla she shares Country with her brother Prince Escott. The Country starts at Point Parker inland to Old Doomadgee Mission – it’s a sacred ground when we go there we have to call out to let the country know that we’re family and visiting. At one site there is in the middle of the saltpan oysters rocks and no one is allowed to take any only the owners. Another site is a water lily swamp with only one water lily flower in the middle of the swamp.My Mother was the eldest child and she would walkabout on Country with family before the tribe settled down in Burketown beside a lake. That is when her Father sent her and her siblings to Mornington Island Mission, leaving behind everything she loved. She never went back, but she left behind her memories and I paint her stories.”