An Aboriginal Ceremony is a cause for celebration, respect and healing. Aboriginal people across the country come together to perform ceremony at many different times of the year for many different reasons. Some of those reasons are for births, deaths and paying respects to those past and present. Also paying respects to animals and healing ceremonies. Those are just a few of the many reasons we come together. Depicted in this painting is exactly that, “A Ceremony”.

In this painting you will see a number of moons and stars. Each one of these equals a day and a night. As these Ceremonies can go for some time, you will also see a large camp in the centre, sitting around this camp are people. The larger people are the elders who are full of all the knowledge, in front of them are the younger people who have come from near and far to attend this Ceremony to broaden their horizons (knowledge). You will see two other camps, these are camps that the other people have travelled from. You will also see people with spears and digging sticks, these people are in transit on their way to this ceremony.

As people travel great distances to be present, attending a Ceremony is a great privilege for Aboriginal People and I have been privileged to be able to share my culture with you. And for that I would like to thank you.

Julianne Williams
Ngunnawal Aboriginal Arts

About the artist

My name is Julianne Williams. I am 32 years old and am from the Ngunnawal Tribe. I was born in Yass NSW, where my family originate from. I stayed in Yass until I was four then moved to Queanbeyan, which is where I started and finished my schooling. I was 18 when I relocated to Canberra and have been here since. I started to paint when I was just seven years old and had the privilege of having a Ngunnawal Mother and a Wiradjuri Father, which gave me the chance to learn two different styles of painting, dance and stories, in which I was able to create my own style of painting. When painting I like to paint Gatherings, Ceremonies, Healings and paying respects to the native animals that have sustained Aboriginal people for so many years in the past and still do today. Painting for me is therapeutic in many ways and also keeps me in touch with who I am. It also keeps my culture alive not just for me but for everyone I can share it with. I love to paint as it gives me the chance to share my culture with so many different people from different backgrounds, religions, cultures and countries. In doing this it keeps my soul enriched which makes me as well as others happy. At the end of the day, that is my goal to have taught someone something new about the Aboriginal Culture and to put a smile on someone’s face when they look at one of my paintings.