These poles were made by Paul Buwang Buwang Gurruwiwi, son of Gali Yalkarriwuy who is custodian of the Banumbirr (Morning Star).

Like his father, Buwang Buwang Gurruwiwi’s art derives from his ancestral homeland of Ngaypinya. The Banumbirr is sacred to the Dhuwa clans of the Yolŋu people.

The Banumbirr is very bright and tracks across the Arnhem land and sets in the west just before the dawn. At this time the light is changing rapidly. There’s is the darkness of the night, punctuated with the reflections of the Morning Star on leaves of the trees, together with the distant glow of the dawn and the fading of the other stars in the sky.

Paul Buwang Buwang Gurruwiwi appears courtesy of Vivien Anderson Gallery