Tiwi Birds by Bede Tungatalum

Bede first created this ‘Tiwi Bird’ motif in the 1970s; its first iteration was as a woodblock print, and it soon became incorporated into the Tiwi Design logo. The Tiwi Bird textile design was created in 1990.

Alan Kerinauia, Tiwi screen printer, explains, “The Tiwi Bird is a Jabiru - there’s lots of Jabirus around Tiwi Islands. The dots and lines around the bird are like Jilamara - a piece of art.

Each line, triangle and curve means something else - a thick line is a creek or river, a dot is a waterhole or a person, and a triangle with a dot can be a snake.”