Djiringanj descendants of William Barak, happy to see his rare artworks returned to country

On May 26, the National Day of Healing in Australia, two of Barak's culturally and historically significant artworks, dating back to 1897, were brought back by the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation.

The artworks were purchased online at an auction in New York, after a crowdfunding campaign was set up by the the corporation.

The crowdfunding amassed great support with more than 1000 donors and the Victorian government contributing $500,000 to secure the purchases.

"The GoFundMe page had $120,000 by 10am Thursday morning and the Victorian government contributed as well," Marcus Mundy said.

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Marcus said the return of the artworks was significant and contributed to the healing process.

"There's a lot of trauma there and things were taken away, it [the artworks] really is our soul and property," he said.

Marcus said Barak's work inspired him as an artist, especially in terms of embedding stories and meaning into his art.

"His artworks were done through observation and that's what's inside my artworks too, the observation of the ocean and the vibrancy of our coast."

Some of Marcus' work is included in the current exhibition at Spiral Gallery in Bega, which opened in time for Reconciliation Week.

Ellen Mundy said her ancestor's tribal paintings depicted cultural ceremonies and incorporated the stick figure style or charcoal drawings, which were "representative of the culturally appropriate style" of Indigenous communities from the South East and Victoria.

"A lot of his work was inspired from rock paintings, engravings and ceremonies," she said of Barak.

Bega Valley Elder Colleen Dixon said she'd often heard about Barak's "beautiful charcoal work that he'd done".

"He was a very well known artist and Marcus and Ellen were connected to him through their great-great-great-grandmother, Helen," she said.

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