WARNING: Visitors should be aware that this website includes images and names of deceased people that may cause sadness or distress to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Children's tjuupi (honey ant) trail
Explore ten art works from the Papunya Painting: Out of the Desert exhibition through our tjuupi (honey ant) trail. The Papunya artists use different symbols to paint Dreaming stories. These symbols include circles, journey lines and bird and animal tracks, and can have many meanings.
Also explore the line diagrams and more information about the works
All works are copyright the artists or their estates and are licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency 2007. They must not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Flying Dingoes, 1974, by Mick Namararri Tjapaltjarri
Imagine that you are looking down on the land from the sky.
This painting shows you the land below, created by a giant dingo in the Dreaming.
Can you see the dingo's footprints?
Can you see its long ears that helped it to fly?
Dreaming of Matjadji, 1975, by David Corby Tjapaltjarri
This picture was painted outside in desert country with the canvas on the ground.
Why do you think the artist used these colours?
Do these colours remind you of desert country?
What colours would you use to paint the area you are from?
Courting with a Nosepeg, 1974, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa
This painting shows women sitting around a fire with some objects.
Can you see the bowls, sticks, hair decorations and bush tomatoes?
Outside the black windbreaks are some men with their objects.
If you were drawing objects that were important to you, what would they be?
Wanatjalnga, 1974, Charlie Tjaruru (Tarawa Tjungurrayi)
This is a story about a woman's journey in the Dreaming. As she travelled, she tracked birds.
Can you see small bird tracks?
Can you see emu tracks?
Circles can represent many things in Western Desert art, including a fire, a waterhole or a hill.
Making Spears, 1975, Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra
A 'U' shape often represents people.
How many pairs of men can you find sitting around fires making spears?
Can you find the long straight spears?
What animals do you think may have been hunted using the spears?
Mala and the Bad Uncles at Tjikarri [I], 1974, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula
This painting and the next tell the same Dreaming story about a dingo, a kingfisher and wallabies.
Can you see the tracks of these animals in both the paintings?
What is similar about these paintings? What is different?
Which one do you like best? Why?