Goanna | GA-5892

DOB: 1966

Birthplace: Barunga

Language: Dalabon

Skin: Kamarrang

Region: Bulman


Ron Manyita is from Bulman, a small community in Arnhem Land. He learned to paint by growing up watching his father and uncles painting. Ron’s brothers, Charles and Neil were also well-known artists.

Traditionally, all adults were expected to remember the clan designs appropriate to their level of ritual and knowledge, which they would then be able to paint and pass down to the next generation. Nowadays, this knowledge is slowly getting lost and not passed down. Ron, on the other hand, grew up traditionally learning the rituals and stories.

He uses the technique taught to him by first covering the canvas with a chosen colour, then the body of an animal is outlined and filled in using rarrk, also known as cross-hatching. To achieve these lines, a brush made from human hair or a special grass called Jarlk is used.

Ron uses the basic colours of white, yellow, red and black and his paintings mostly depict the animals hunted for food. Sometimes his paintings show aspects of mythology, spirit creatures of the rocky escarpment and most importantly, dreaming ancestors.

Ron makes and paints clapsticks using Ironwood, this was traditionally used as it is a hardwood and gives a deep, rich sound that can be carried a long way.

Ron also paints and sells didgeridoos. When he was younger, he would often go out bush to cut and collect his own timber to make them.