0:00:02 > 0:00:04BBC Four Collections,
0:00:04 > 0:00:07specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09For this collection, Sir David Attenborough
0:00:09 > 0:00:13has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.
0:00:13 > 0:00:14More programmes on this theme
0:00:14 > 0:00:18and other BBC Four Collections are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08CHANTING, DIDGERIDOO PLAYS
0:01:35 > 0:01:37This is a sacred place,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41a cave sacred to the Aborigines of this part of northern Australia.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Here they come to perform their rituals.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48The clefts here are filled with the bones of their dead,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and these rocks they have decorated
0:01:51 > 0:01:55until they glow with the colours of a hundred upon hundred of paintings.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Some of these paintings are undoubtedly very old.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02The local people don't even know who made these.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04They explain them by saying
0:02:04 > 0:02:07that they're the self-portraits of a spirit people, the Mimi.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10The Mimi have extremely thin bodies.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14There the legs, the torso and the arms.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16So thin, in fact, that they can't go out in a high wind,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19as they might blow away or their frail bodies be broken.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23But they live and they hunt and they eat just like ordinary Aborigines.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27And this one has got a fan made from a goose's wing in this hand,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29and in the other hand, a woomera,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32a spear-thrower, in which he's holding a great, long,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34two-pronged spear.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36These are benevolent spirits,
0:02:36 > 0:02:41but these, painted not in white but in red, are extremely evil.
0:02:41 > 0:02:48These are women. There are her legs, her torso, her arms and her head.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53And these steal the souls of the sick and roast them and eat them.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56And in her hands, she is holding a loop of string
0:02:56 > 0:02:57which is a magical device
0:02:57 > 0:03:01to enable her to travel silently throughout the night.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05The Mimis live in clefts of rock all around here, but you never see them.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07And the reason?
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Because the Mimis, whenever they see someone coming,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12can blow on the surface of the rock, the rock parts,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14the Mimi slips inside and disappears.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Remarkable though this type of painting is,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20there's another type of painting here
0:03:20 > 0:03:22which is perhaps even more extraordinary,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25and this has been made comparatively recently.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Here is an example of it - a turtle.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33And this turtle is painted in a style which is quite different.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37The artist is showing not just what he sees but what he knows is there.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40For inside the animals that are painted in this style,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44you can see their heart and their stomach and their gut,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47their skeleton and their muscles.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52There are also barramundi, the best-tasting of all the local fish.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54And the kangaroos with their skeletons
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and internal organs clearly shown.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00And among the animals, stencilled handprints
0:04:00 > 0:04:04and strange, enigmatic designs of humanlike figures.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Precisely because these paintings are so recent,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09they have a particular fascination.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12For in many ways, they are similar to the first paintings
0:04:12 > 0:04:16mankind ever made, during the Stone Age,
0:04:16 > 0:04:1920,000 years ago in the caves of Europe.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Both prehistoric and Aboriginal paintings show similar subjects.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Both are often superimposed haphazardly, one on top of the other.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Most important of all, both were painted by people
0:04:31 > 0:04:35living at much the same stage of technological development.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37For the Aborigines are still wandering hunters
0:04:37 > 0:04:39with no settled villages,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42no knowledge of agriculture, and no herds or flocks.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44No-one can ever be certain
0:04:44 > 0:04:48why prehistoric man produced his astonishing art,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52but we can discover how and why these designs were made.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54For the Aborigines still paint.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56From them, therefore,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00we may be able to get some insight into the very origins of art.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06The most accomplished painter we met was named Magani.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11He lives in one of the remotest parts of Australia - Arnhem Land,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14a vast, empty wilderness on the northern tropical coast.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19His tribal territory is flat bush country with few rocks or caves,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23so Magani has to find something other than stone on which to paint.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25And he uses the bark
0:05:25 > 0:05:28of a kind of eucalyptus tree called the stringybark.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32He was very particular in selecting his tree.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36Most he rejected at a glance as being unsuitable.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Either they were not big enough or had been damaged by a bushfire
0:05:39 > 0:05:41or were infested with wood-boring insects.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Even those which seemed at first sight to be suitable
0:05:45 > 0:05:49might prove to be faulty, with bark that cracked or was too thin.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52And he might have to half-strip four or five trees
0:05:52 > 0:05:54before he at last found one
0:05:54 > 0:05:59which would provide him with the wide, smooth, flexible sheet of bark
0:05:59 > 0:06:02free of knotholes, which he wanted for his painting.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19For further treatment, the bark had to be taken back to his home,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22a small shelter of branches in a clearing.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26He lives quite close to a newly founded government station,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30but this, in fact, has hardly changed his traditional way of life.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34And it's in a place like this that he prefers to sleep and live and paint.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46The bark must first be stripped of its rough, outside, fibrous layers.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48As it dries in the hot sun,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52the bark curls into a tube on which it's quite impossible to paint.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55To make it straight, it must be heated over a fire,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59and the strips of the outer bark provide a convenient fuel.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18It will lie on the ground, weighted with stones,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22for two or three days, so that it hardens into a flat sheet.
0:07:22 > 0:07:28This, then, is Magani's canvas. His colours are also found close by.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30They are mineral ochres,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and the deposits in which they occur are well known.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Indeed, sometimes these sites are recognised as the places where,
0:07:37 > 0:07:42during the Creation, the blood of one of the ancestral spirits
0:07:42 > 0:07:44was spilt and soaked into the ground.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Among the rocks, he finds little pebbles of iron oxide,
0:07:48 > 0:07:53and he tests the quality of their colour by scratching them on a stone.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56These provide him with both red and yellow pigments.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05One of Magani's helpers and close friends, Jara Billy,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07is also out in the bush.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12He is gathering orchids, for these too are necessary for the painting.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15The juice of their tubers makes an excellent fixative
0:08:15 > 0:08:18which prevents the paint from flaking easily.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23The method of using the orchid is quite simple.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27You bite it...dip it into water...
0:08:27 > 0:08:32and then smear a rough outline of the design you're about to paint.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Magani has four colours at his disposal -
0:08:34 > 0:08:38red and yellow iron oxides,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41a black made from charcoal, and white from china clay,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44which he collects from pits dug in the mangrove swamps
0:08:44 > 0:08:46down by the seashore.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51His brushes are also extremely simple.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54This one is simply a twig with a burred end,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58and he uses it for making thick lines and for stippling.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02He also has another stick, the end of which he has chewed
0:09:02 > 0:09:03until it's widely splayed.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07And this he uses for putting on broad strokes of colour.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11A third, and the one that requires most skill in using,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15is a twig with a few trailing fibres tied to the end.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19And this he employs for the delicate task of cross-hatching.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Everyone in the neighbourhood freely admitted
0:09:21 > 0:09:24that Magani was the best artist in their tribe,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26but that doesn't mean that he was the only one.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29Indeed, we met no man who, when asked,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31did not agree immediately that he was a painter.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Painting, for these people, is not something you look at
0:09:35 > 0:09:38but something that everybody does as a matter of course.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42Often, men would come and sit by Magani in a sociable way,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45take up - unasked - one of his brushes,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47and start work on some corner of the bark that was blank.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50But there were few who had the skill,
0:09:50 > 0:09:55the aptitude or the passion to paint as intensively as Magani did.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59He worked fast and with great neatness and assurance.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03It seemed as though he had clearly in his mind the completed design.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06And although he occasionally made mistakes in outline,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and rubbed part of it out with a wettened finger,
0:10:09 > 0:10:13he never changed his mind about the position of a figure.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16I asked Magani why he painted.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19His first explanation was a very simple one.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Because he could sell his paintings at the government station.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26But this couldn't be a complete answer,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29for he and his people were painting similar designs on bark
0:10:29 > 0:10:32long before there were any Europeans here to buy them.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34Why?
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Because, he said, he liked doing so.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41And for some time, this was the only explanation I could find.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45But later, I was to get a deeper insight into his motives.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48I was to discover, in a dramatic and unexpected way,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51that Magani didn't always paint
0:10:51 > 0:10:54merely as a way of passing the time or amusing himself,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58but that his art played an integral and vital part in tribal ritual.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07At the end of a week, the whole bark was covered with designs.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Some of them were easily recognisable,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11but there were others that were more mysterious.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Micky, tell me about these pictures.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Er...what's that?
0:11:19 > 0:11:21- MICKY: Dog. - A dog.
0:11:21 > 0:11:22- DAVID: And here? - Heart.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24DAVID: Heart. Heart.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28And this?
0:11:28 > 0:11:30- MICKY: Gut, you know. - Gut, gut.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34I see. Tell me about this place here.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39- MICKY: Two women and one boy... - Two women... Yeah.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41MICKY: ..and making fire.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43- DAVID: Making a fire? - Making fire.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46- Lay down like that now. - And they lay down?
0:11:46 > 0:11:48Yeah.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50DAVID: And what are these?
0:11:51 > 0:11:53Black-head lizard.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57DAVID: Oh, a lizard with a... with a big beard round its...
0:11:57 > 0:12:00- Big fur, big earholes. - We call him frill lizard.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01- That's it. - Is that him?
0:12:01 > 0:12:02Yes.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06- DAVID: What's that there? - Little goanna.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08DAVID: Little goanna. Here... What's that?
0:12:08 > 0:12:10HE TUTS
0:12:10 > 0:12:11- He makes a noise like that? - Yeah.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14- In night-time? - Night...
0:12:14 > 0:12:16- Hm? - Before the light, him talk.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Ah, yes. Before the light, he talks.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22- Yes. And what's this fellow? - A goanna, little goanna.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23DAVID: A little goanna.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26And along here, you tell me the story along here.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30- MICKY: This one... - Yes.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34He go...look round for a wallaby.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37DAVID: He looks around for a wallaby, yeah.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39- MICKY: Gets his woomera... - Gets his spear-thrower.
0:12:39 > 0:12:40MICKY: Throws spear.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Gets his spear-thrower and throws a spear.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45- MICKY: See him, this wallaby. - And he kills the wallaby.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47MICKY: He kills it.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49- DAVID: And what's this? - Ah...bush tucker.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51- DAVID: Bush tucker. - Bush tucker.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53- DAVID: The yam. - That's right.
0:12:53 > 0:12:54DAVID: And this fellow?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57- MICKY: Emu. - Emu. The big bird.
0:12:57 > 0:12:58MICKY: That's bird, yeah.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Ah, yeah. And down here? What happened here?
0:13:04 > 0:13:07WHISPERS: Yurlungur.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10WHISPERS: Why you talk so soft?
0:13:10 > 0:13:14WHISPERS: Yurlungur, if we talk hard, might hear me.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18If we talk hard, who might hear?
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Young boy and little boy and woman.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Young boy and little boy and woman, and they mustn't hear?
0:13:23 > 0:13:24That's right.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27DAVID: What is this fellow, Yurlungur, that's so secret?
0:13:27 > 0:13:31- MICKY: Business in Madayin. - Business in Madayin.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- DAVID: With corroboree. - That's right.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36DAVID: Is this a spirit?
0:13:36 > 0:13:37- MICKY: God made... - God made this?
0:13:37 > 0:13:39Yeah.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Yurlungur where? Over this way?
0:13:41 > 0:13:43- In the bush, yeah. - In the bush?
0:13:43 > 0:13:44That's right.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Maybe you're thinking all right for me to see him?
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Me no woman - all right for me to go?
0:13:50 > 0:13:52- All right. - You show me?
0:13:52 > 0:13:54Uh...
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- If you like, you can go. - You'll take me?
0:13:58 > 0:14:01And you look on Yurlungur.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03- You show me Yurlungur? - Yes.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Good, Micky. Thank you very much. We go.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13'I had little idea as to what this Yurlungur could be.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16'Obviously it was a spirit, but equally clearly,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19'it was also some material but highly sacred object
0:14:19 > 0:14:21'concealed away in the bush,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24'which only privileged people were allowed to see.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28'As I followed Magani, I didn't know what to expect.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33'And then, half a mile away, we came to a small shelter of branches.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36'Beside it sat Jara Billy, Magani's helper,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38'the man who had collected the orchids.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42'And Jara Billy was busy painting a ten-foot pole.'
0:14:42 > 0:14:47This...Yurlungur.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49- Yes. - Ah.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53'It was magnificently decorated.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56'But it was only after I had looked at it for some minutes
0:14:56 > 0:14:59'that I suddenly realised that it was hollow.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03'One end of it had been plastered with beeswax
0:15:03 > 0:15:05'and fashioned into a mouthpiece.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07'Yurlungur was a trumpet.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12'And to confirm this, Magani showed me how it was played.'
0:15:28 > 0:15:30LOW DRONING
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Day after day, Magani and Jara Billy had been coming here,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52secretly, to work on the trumpet.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Along its length, they had painted designs of goannas,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59large lizards, and the symbol they used was exactly the same
0:15:59 > 0:16:02as the one Magani had painted on the bark.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Goannas, clearly, played an important part in the Yurlungur cult.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08But how...I did not yet know.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Among the goannas, there also appeared another symbol
0:16:12 > 0:16:13that I recognised.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17This was the design that I had seen on the bark and asked Magani about -
0:16:17 > 0:16:21the clue that had led us here in the first place.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25This was the emblem of the Yurlungur spirit itself.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Although a great deal of work had already been lavished
0:16:28 > 0:16:31on the trumpet, there was much more yet to be done.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Magani said that all these preparations had to be made
0:16:34 > 0:16:36each time the ceremony was held.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40I asked him why, if the ceremony was repeated again and again,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42they couldn't use the same trumpet.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45And he replied that after the ritual was over,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49the trumpet was quite worthless, and they threw it away.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Usually, they buried it in a sandbank down by the river,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54so that women and children wouldn't see it.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Sometimes, he said, they might dig it up again on a later occasion
0:16:58 > 0:16:59and repaint it.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01But usually, they didn't bother
0:17:01 > 0:17:04and started afresh with a new piece of wood.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07The act of painting, it seemed, was an end in itself,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09a part of the ritual.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Already, the trumpet was a sacred object.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Every now and then, work stopped,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17and Magani lay down to blow the trumpet
0:17:17 > 0:17:20while Jara Billy sang a chant to the Yurlungur spirit.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25For each of the designs had to be "sung in" to make them good.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Once, as I sat beside it, watching Magani paint,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32I unthinkingly reached across it to pick up something.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34Magani reproved me.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38It was wrong and disrespectful to reach across Yurlungur in this way.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43On another occasion, Magani's eyes suddenly filled with tears,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and he had to put down his brush.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47No-one spoke for several minutes.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52Later, I asked Jara Billy why Magani had been so deeply moved,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56and he replied that the last time Magani had painted such a trumpet
0:17:56 > 0:17:58was for the funeral ceremony of his father.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05And so, day after day, Magani and Jara Billy continued to work.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08When they left each evening to return to their families,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12the trumpet was carefully hidden away in the back of the shelter
0:18:12 > 0:18:16and covered with bark and leaves, so that no woman or child,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19or man from another clan, should set eyes on it.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21When all the painting was at last finished,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24the trumpet was still not complete.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Bands of scarlet feathers from the breast of a parakeet
0:18:27 > 0:18:30had to be carefully bound round each end.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42And now, once more,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47a song had to be chanted to Yurlungur to sanctify the completed trumpet.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51CHANTING AND DRONING
0:19:58 > 0:20:03The ritual painting of Yurlungur has been going on for over a week now
0:20:03 > 0:20:06in that secret shelter away in the bush.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09And for much of that time, we've been sitting with the men,
0:20:09 > 0:20:10watching them painting,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and trying to discover the legends that surround Yurlungur.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16It seems that, in the Dreamtime,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19that's to say before there were any people in this land,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21there were two ancestral sisters.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Their names were Boaliri and "Missal-goee".
0:20:23 > 0:20:26And they came walking through this country,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28naming the animals and the plants as they came.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31"Missal-goee" was expecting a child.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Boaliri gathered a lot of food, including a lot of goannas,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36for their evening meal.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39And they went down to a water hole by the Goyder River,
0:20:39 > 0:20:40which is just over there.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43And there, "Missal-goee" had her baby.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46It was a boy and it was called Julunggul.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Unknown to the sisters, the water hole was the home of a great serpent.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53And in the depths of the water, he heard the noise of the sisters
0:20:53 > 0:20:55and he came out.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Then there followed a great battle,
0:20:58 > 0:20:59and at the end of this battle,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01Boaliri, "Missal-goee" - the two sisters -
0:21:01 > 0:21:05and the baby and all the goannas were eaten by the serpent.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07And the serpent, whose name was Yurlungur,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12then looked up into the sky and blew, and the sky filled with heavy clouds.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15And then there was a great storm, which lasted for a long time.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19And Yurlungur, the serpent, arched up in the sky, like a rainbow,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21and he spoke to the other serpents in this country,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23telling them of what had happened.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28And he...his voice was thunder and his tongue was lightning.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32When the rains came to the end, Yurlungur returned to the water hole,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36and before he disappeared he spat out the two sisters,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38and the baby boy, and all the goannas.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42It seems, in fact, that Yurlungur is the symbol of the rainy season,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45the rainy season that is due to begin here
0:21:45 > 0:21:47in about three or four weeks' time.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51He figures as a great trumpet in nearly all the important ceremonies
0:21:51 > 0:21:54of these particular tribes around here.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57The one that they're preparing for now is one which is carried out
0:21:57 > 0:22:01by the men of the goanna totem, the goanna clan.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04It is not a rain-making ceremonial,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07but a ceremonial in which they re-enact the legends
0:22:07 > 0:22:11and observe the secret designs and the secret dances
0:22:11 > 0:22:16so that the young men of the tribe may know of the cult of Yurlungur.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19During the dance, the trumpet - Yurlungur -
0:22:19 > 0:22:22will emerge for the first time out of this shelter,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26and it will eat up the goanna men,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28symbolised by the trumpet being passed over them.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31And then, at the end of the dance, the rains will come to an end
0:22:31 > 0:22:35and the men themselves will leap out as goannas
0:22:35 > 0:22:38that are being regurgitated to take their life in this land.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41But before any of that can happen,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43the men must have painted on their flesh
0:22:43 > 0:22:46the secret symbol of the goanna.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52They painted the goanna in exactly the same way as the one we had seen
0:22:52 > 0:22:55first on the bark painting and then on the Yurlungur trumpet.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57The shading, the representation of the heart and gut,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01the position of the legs - all were the same.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04The execution of each design lasted as long as an hour,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and while it went on, the men lay motionless with eyes closed,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10almost as though they were in a trance.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15They had assembled here early in the morning,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19but it wasn't until seven hours later that all were decorated.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21They sat about in a group,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24awaiting the beginning of their act of worship,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27when, together, they would enter the shelter
0:23:27 > 0:23:30and lie motionless in the shade, waiting to be summoned by the snake.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57TRUMPET PLAYS
0:23:57 > 0:24:01As the voice of the snake sounded, so it called out to the goanna men
0:24:01 > 0:24:05from the shelter of branches that represented the sacred well
0:24:05 > 0:24:07by the Goyder River.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12CHANTING AND DRONING
0:24:16 > 0:24:19As they came, they postured before the snake,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21rearing up as a goanna will do when alarmed.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38In groups of two or three, they crawled out from the shelter
0:24:38 > 0:24:42to kneel in the dust in front of the roaring snake.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23At last, all the men have been called out,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and Yurlungur the python passes over them, swallowing them.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56And now the moment comes for their regurgitation.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12So, Magani showed us that painting for him and his people
0:27:12 > 0:27:14played an essential part in their lives,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18a vital element in their magical and religious beliefs.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21But whereas bark painting and body painting
0:27:21 > 0:27:24and painting of objects like Yurlungur still goes on,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29most of the cave painting, it seems, came to an end about 50 years ago.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31But you can still find old men who will tell you
0:27:31 > 0:27:35that the reason these cave paintings were made was also a magical one.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39They believe that, when they painted the picture of a barramundi fish,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42they were working a magic which ensured that the barramundi fish
0:27:42 > 0:27:44would continue to be abundant.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47But are all these paintings magical?
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Well, here and there in these caves you can find a painting
0:27:50 > 0:27:52where it seems as though the artist made it
0:27:52 > 0:27:54simply because he was noting down
0:27:54 > 0:27:57something that interested or amused him.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Here is an old flintlock pistol that possibly dates
0:28:02 > 0:28:05from the time when the white man first came to this country.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09And elsewhere, you can see pictures of rifles...
0:28:09 > 0:28:11and ships.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Maybe this is art for art's sake.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Certainly Magani and the painters like him
0:28:17 > 0:28:20make their bark paintings not for any magical reason,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22but simply because they enjoy doing so,
0:28:22 > 0:28:24and because they can sell them.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Already their paintings are becoming more widely appreciated,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30and the few examples that come out of this part of the world
0:28:30 > 0:28:32are eagerly bought by private collectors and museums
0:28:32 > 0:28:35and art galleries for ever-increasing prices.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Maybe as the demand increases, their work will deteriorate
0:28:39 > 0:28:41and become slick and mechanical.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43But, so far, that hasn't happened.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47So far, although many of the painters of Arnhem Land
0:28:47 > 0:28:50are increasingly in contact with the outside world,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54their lives are still governed by their tribal rituals
0:28:54 > 0:28:58and they continue to employ the symbols prescribed by their beliefs.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01Many of their paintings, though stylised, are easily understood.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Yurlungur, the snake, appears again and again -
0:29:04 > 0:29:07the zigzag borders framing this painting
0:29:07 > 0:29:09prove to be the snake's body.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13But often the designs are so stylised that they are totally unrecognisable,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15except to the initiated.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19These are the tracks of birds running between the bulbs of water lilies.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24Sometimes the patterns are totally abstract and geometrical,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28and the finished composition bears a strong resemblance to the pictures
0:29:28 > 0:29:31of some modern European abstract painters.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34And so the paintings of the artists of Arnhem land,
0:29:34 > 0:29:38which are so intimately associated with their tribal beliefs,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41not only hark back to the very origins of art in prehistory,
0:29:41 > 0:29:44but seem also to have foreshadowed some of the latest
0:29:44 > 0:29:48and most sophisticated styles of 20th-century painting.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53CHANTING, DIDGERIDOO PLAYS