The Dugong and Art

Indigenous Art


One way of bringing awareness to the public is through art. Inwood (2010, pp.33) stated in her research,

“Eco-art education integrates art education with environment education as a means of developing awareness of and engagement with concepts such as interdependence, biodiversity, conservation restoration, and sustainability."

Dugongs and marine turtles are often featured in the creation stories of Indigenous cultures across northern Australia (North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management, 2005). Indigenous art is used as a form of expression to introduce to the wider Australian community about indigenous peoples’ interests and concerns about their marine environments and resources.

Traditional Owners from northeast Arnhem Land exhibited “Saltwater – Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country” in Canberra, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Alice Springs from 1999 to 2001 to help politicians and general public understand Traditional Owners’ rights and responsibilities to sea country (North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management, 2005). 

Here are some links to other indigenous art where dugongs are reflected in their lives:

• “Dhangal Um Araik” by Billy Missi
• “Nath (State II)” by Dennis Nona
• “Dhangala”by Dennis Nona
• “Kibuw Dhangalal” by Billy Missi
• “Gelam Nguzu Kazi - Gelam My Son” by David Bosun

Children's Awareness

We asked a few children to draw pictures that represent sea animals to gauge an understanding of how much children know about the beautiful, gentle sea mammal.  None of the children asked drew anything resembling a dugong with many preferring to draw animals such as whales, octopus, dolphins, sharks and crabs. 

Although the sample was not large enough to give an accurate representation of children's knowledge or understanding, it gives us a little glimpse into the fact the dugongs may not be represented in books or on television as much as some of the other animals. 

So we decided to help create awareness for children.  We built a claymation animation that shows the human impact on dugongs particularly in the Moreton Bay area which was largely affected by the Brisbane floods.


The Disappearing Dugong