Aboriginal Art Sale from the Central Australian Desert  View more

Goanna

In Most Paintings The Artist Will Depict The Subjects As Seen From An Aerial View. They Are Shown As Indentations Left In The Ground.

All Tracks Represent Either Ancestral Travels Or Recent Travels And Events That Have Taken Place Within The Artists Country.

There Are Many Different Icons Representing All Beings That Live In The Central Desert. This Icon Represents An Goanna. You Can See The Tail Of The Goanna Which Is Dragging Along In The Ground With The Footprints On Either Side Of This Mark. The Goanna Leaves A Very Distinct Track In The Ground And The Aboriginal People Use These Tracks To Find And Hunt Goanna's For Food.

As Described By Janet Long Nakamarra

The Goanna Is A Large Lizard That Lives In Australia. It Is Used By The Aboriginal People For Bush Medicine And Is A Stable Source Of Food Hunted Men And Women.

When Its A Very Hot Day, Then You Will Not See The Goanna Tail Because It Can Lift Its Tail Up A Bit Because The Sand Is Hot And That’S Why The Goanna Goes Into Its Hole.

Sometimes It Is Very Hard To Tell Whether The Goanna Is In The Hole And Its Very Hard To Look For Its Track, Whether A Goanna Is In The Hole Or Not. But Some People Are Very Clever, They Can Know And Tell If The Goanna Is In The Hole Because They Can See Its Nail Mark That Went Into The Hole.