#wunala

Balarinji Studio, founded by designers John and Ros Moriarty, is Australia's leading indigenous art and design studio.  John Kundereri Moriarty was taken away from his family in the Northern Territory at the age of four. He was bought up in boys homes in Adelaide and Sydney under the governments assimilation policy where he studied for his Bachelor of Arts. Now he is a full member of his people, the Yanyuwa people, belonging to the Kangaroo and rainbow snake dreamings. Ros Moriarty is a designer and managing director for the studio. She is a graduate from the Australian National University and formerly a journalist for Radio Australia. In her time there she  looked at indigenous affairs, women's issues and the environment. The Balarinji studio has worked with many big clients both nationally and internationally including Qantas, Bank of America, British Airways, Coca Cola Atlanta and the City of Sydney. The design studio represents a fresh approprach to Australian design culture. "Balarinji is forging significant new paths in connecting traditionally oriented Indigenous symbolism with contemporary Indigenous designs." - James Wilson-Miller, curator and head of Koori History and Culture at the Powerhouse Museum. One of their most iconic works would be their work with Qantas on two 747 Boeing aircrafts. The illustration and design was based upon the Wunala and Yananyi Dreaming. The legends of both of these dreamtime stories are depicted on the Qantas website:

"In Dreamtime journeys, spirit ancestors in the form of kangaroos (Wunala) make tracks from camps to waterholes, leading the people to water and food. Today, as they have for centuries, Aboriginal people re-enact such journeys through song and dance 'corroborees'. These ensure the procreation of all living things in the continuing harmony of natures seasons."

"'Yananyi' means going or travelling. In 'Yananyi Dreaming' radiating pathways lead to the symbol of Uluru, depicted both as a physical form surrounded by Kurkara (desert oak trees), and as an abstract representation of concentric circles. Blue hills (Tali) rise from the desert landscape, and mala (Rufous Hair - Wallaby) tracks are imprinted on the sand. Lungkata (Blue tongued Lizard) basks in the hot sun in this fragile and ancient place. 'Yananyi Dreaming' is the strong Uluru story."