• AUNTY JEANETTE JAMES

    AUNTY LOLA GREENO

    AUNTY VICKI WEST

    CHARLYSE GREENO

    VANESSA GREENO

    EMMA ROBERTSON 

    BEC WOOLLEY

    FIONA GREEN

    ASHLEE MURRAY

    BRONWYN DILLON

    TRACY PURDON
  • 'luna rrala - Strong Women', is a celebration of the resilience and strength of Tasmanian Aboriginal women. This exhibition honours...

    "luna rrala - Strong Women", is a celebration of the resilience and strength of Tasmanian Aboriginal women. This exhibition honours our vital role as custodians of sacred knowledge, skills, and wisdom, emphasising the profound connections that link generations together.Tasmanian Aboriginal women are acknowledged as strong and independent figures, deeply rooted in the cultural practices that have been passed down through time. They are the holders of songlines, stories, and traditions that not only reflect their rich heritage but also serve as guiding principles for nurturing and caring for one another. Through the sharing of knowledge from one generation to the next, they ensure the continuity of cultural practices, fostering a sense of identity and community.

     

    Traditional shell necklaces are sophisticated works of art are skilfully crafted using a variety of shells and intricate designs. The necklaces are not only visually stunning but also carry cultural significance, reflecting the rich traditions of palawa communities. They incorporate knowledge of the seasons, tides, ancient science and knowledges that have remained unchanged throughout time and space.

     

    "luna rrala" is an exploration of the multi-layered roles of Aboriginal women as leaders and educators, highlighting our commitment to preserving and revitalising our cultural legacies for future generations to learn and enjoy. This exhibition provides the platform for our stories, and perspectives that reflect the strength, resilience, empowerment and connection.

     

    - Emma Robertson, 2025

  • Aunty Jeanette James

    Aunty Jeanette James

    It is so important we support and nurture the women participating in this exhibition, they are the future knowledge holders who will ensure the continuation of our traditional practices.

    "Flinders Island was home to my grandparents, to my mother, and to me as a child.  My mother taught me to collect shells in my early thirties. It soothes the soul. The world slows down. It’s very quiet.

     

    I like doing intricate things. I enjoyed the collecting and all the processes, and it was a family tradition. The obligation was there. But I had to make sacrifices to do that because I was working full time. For twenty years my holidays were devoted to shell collecting and learning. In the busy world of today, learning something that is so hard to do… people don’t have the time. It was expensive. It was hard. But it wasn’t a hardship.

     

    It tended to be only a couple of families. We heard stories in the early days of shopkeepers taking necklaces as payment for groceries. People bought necklaces off my grandmother, so it was a source of income at one point. It just was. There was no thought of culture at the time, as an activity we had to continue. It might have been frowned upon, if it was thought of in that way."

     

    - Jeanette James, 2025

     

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  • Aunty Lola Greeno

    Aunty Lola Greeno

     

    I would think the power of a group of women is not just individual strength, but the strength in the journey that we create for our younger women to follow. I aim to return my knowledge and skills to our younger generation so we will always have women teaching to continue our culture in the future.

    "Our on country cultural knowledge is learnt by understanding our landscape and sea country environment that teaches us the natural elements also controls when, where we visit, and how we treat our country and sea. We have worked with women around Tasmania encouraging them to get to know your local area what is safe or not safe to walk in that area and how much you should gather to maintain for future generations.

     

    The work I do today reflects on who I am where I grew up and what is important to tell about where these shells necklaces are created from my personal family story growing up on Cape Barren and Flinders Island, so I have lots of life experiences to put into my necklace stories. One shell necklace has been designed from the Cape Barren goose pattern depicting the colour of their feathers, feet, beak and under wing feathers.

     

    My significant cultural practice is my whole being that is meant to identify us and where we come who we belong to in our family.   We survive and evolve to maintain what our old women before us strongly practiced. It helped to maintain their women’s art/craft. It also helped to maintain family living conditions to buy clothes and food. I see it more for me today helping my family to share their culture is first important step to share knowledge and resources whilst walking on country is part of healing their whole being."

     

    - Aunty Lola Greeno, 2025

     

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  • Aunty Vicki West

    Aunty Vicki West

    Over many years of working with kalikina (bull kelp, durvilaea pototorum) I have developed a deep understanding and respect of its many differing functions and properties - ecologically, environmentally and culturally.

    "I am a proud trawlwoolway women, mother, daughter, grandmother aunt and artist, my country is in north east lutrawita /Tasmania.  My relationship with kalikina is a continuation of my ancestor’s traditional cultural practices of utilising kalikina. The old people created rikawa (water carriers) made from the kalikina - these vessels played an essential role in the survival of the people of lutrawita and our culture over thousands of generations.  While kalikina was a food source it was also utilised for making balls,for practicing spear throwing and for creating shoes for sore feet. Women were also known to have wrapped themselves in it to hide from sharks when diving.

     

    For me the kalikina is a metaphor of survival.   It is a precious cultural resource whose environment is under threat due to global warming, introduced invading species and other environmental threats. The decline of kalikina brayly (kelp forests), as with milaythina brayly (land forests), is a mirror of the larger global situation which ultimately places all of our survival in question.

     

    The kalikina used in the this water carrier and necklace was collected from my homelands in the north east of Tasmania, and while these vessels carry my concerns for milaythina/muka country/sea, they also celebrate the continuing cultural practices and survival of my people. .  It also honours the continuing cultural warriors caring and fighting for country today."

     

    - Aunty Vicki West, 2025

    • Aunty Vicki West pakana traditional weave basket, 2024 Lomandra, emu feathers & waxed thread 8 x 24 x 25 cm (overall size)
      Aunty Vicki West
      pakana traditional weave basket, 2024
      Lomandra, emu feathers & waxed thread
      8 x 24 x 25 cm (overall size)
      AU$ 3,000.00
      enquire
    • Aunty Vicki West pakana traditional weave basket, 2024 kelp, tea tree and river reed 15.5 x 19 x 19 cm (overall size)
      Aunty Vicki West
      pakana traditional weave basket, 2024
      kelp, tea tree and river reed
      15.5 x 19 x 19 cm (overall size)
      AU$ 3,000.00
      enquire
    • Aunty Vicki West pakana water carrier, 2024 kelp, tea tree and river reed 8 x 12 x 27 cm (overall size)
      Aunty Vicki West
      pakana water carrier, 2024
      kelp, tea tree and river reed
      8 x 12 x 27 cm (overall size)
      AU$ 4,500.00
      enquire
  • Ashlee Murray

    Ashlee Murray

    We are one of the only peoples in the world stringing shells like this, so I think it is quite definitive of Tasmanian Aboriginal people. It is incredibly important to me personally and to our Community at large, whether you are practicing shell stringing or not.

    - Ashlee Murray, 2025

     

    Ashlee is a shell stringer from the Northwest coast of  Lutruwita/Tasmania, and has been creating shell necklaces for around fifteen years years and learnt this treasured practice through a cultural rejuvenation project. Ashlee has been mentored by many of the great stringers including Aunty Jeanette James, Auntie Corrie Fullard, Aunty Lola Greeno and Aunty Dulcie Greeno. She loves representing her people through this ancient cultural practice and looks forward to the day when she can strengthen her connection through passing this knowledge on to her young daughter.  Ashlee's works have been collected privately both nationally and internationally, and are held in the collections of the  State Government Department of Justice and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

     

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  • Vanessa Greeno

    Vanessa Greeno

    My fondest memories of shell collecting was when I was growing up and swimming at our local beach in Lady Barron.  I can remember diving down and scooping the gorgeous jewels off the bottom of the seabed, they were sparkling in the little dips of the sand.  

     

    "The three necklaces that I have chosen for this exhibit are based on my love of the beach, water and animals. I feel grounded whenever I am around the beach area, collecting shells and creating objects of extraordinary delicacy is something that I will treasure forever.

     

    I am a very proud Pakana woman, being invited to be part of the collection of artists in this exhibit is an absolute delight.  Having both grandmothers as shell-makers (Dulcie Greeno and Valerie MacSween), and my own mother, Lola Greeno, to guide me along the way, has been an absolute blessing for me, learning the ways of our culture."

     

    - Vanessa Greeno, 2025

     

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  • Tracy Purdon

    Tracy Purdon

     I am a pakana/lutruwita woman. I was born on Flinders Island were my culture connects me to country,

     " I am  from a well known and respected,  strong Aboriginal family that have shown me the way.  Keeping my culture alive is a passion of mine, being on country and in the water has helped ground me and I was shown how to collect from my elders.  I've listened to their stories and gathered with them, laughed with them, but most importantly I've learnt from them, and I will pass what I know on to our next generation.  Traditional and cultural practices were used in the making and gathering of my baskets and Equidna necklace for this exhibition. "

     

    - Tracy Purdon, 2025

     

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  • Fiona Green

    Fiona Green

    I am a proud pakana woman, my family hails from tayaritja – Furneaux Islands of Tasmania. I am a direct descendant of mannalargena, bangana of the pairebeena clan.

     

    I have been lucky enough to be taught the art of kanalaritja (Shell Necklace) stringing by my Aunty maikutena Vicki-Laine Green. The process of passing this significant tradition through our family is imperative for the continuation of culture. Auntie Vicki has also taught me how to weave tirrina, (Native Grass Basket) and rikawa (bull kelp basket). My love and passion for our culture is evident in the quality of strings and teaching others about the rich histories of our people.

     

    I have always had a connection to rina (shells) and katina (beach), I spent so long walking the beaches when I was a young girl. I would spend hours down in rock pools and finding the hidden treasures on katina.

     

    I can remember always being in awe of my Elders and how they strung these beautiful necklaces together. I can remember sitting looking at Auntie Bernice Condie’s necklaces, I loved them, and loved spending time learning from my Aunties. The strength in our women to keep our traditions going, radiates through me, and I will pass this down through my own family lines.

     

    I spend most of my weekends down by the beach or out on country taking in the uniqueness of the North-West Coast of Lutruwita and what it has to offer. I find spending time out on country, that she begins to show me where I need to be. If I see a black cockatoo or a sea-eagle, I know that my ancestors are leading me and telling me where to go.

     

    - Fiona Green, 2025

     

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  • Emma Robertson
    Sisters, Emma Robertson and Bec Woolley, photo: The Mercury, 2023

    Emma Robertson

    I am a proud Palawa woman from the trawlwoolway people in the north eastern part of Lutruwita, Tasmania. Making this work means I am connected & continuing my culture.  

     

    "A practice that I am so grateful to be learning. It means time to listen, time to learn, time to share.  It gives me immense pride to actively practice my culture. I love that my family are involved and learning alongside me. Creating beautiful adornments are only part of the journey. It's made up of countless hours, on country, telling stories, sharing knowledge and supporting each other. Like our old people have done forever. 

     

    I am an Aboriginal Health Practitioner and I have spent many years working for my community and love what I do. I am a mum to 7 beautiful children and I use my art as expression, and as a way of connecting with my culture. I am an artist and cultural practitioner, I enjoy exploring new ideas and pushing the limits of my creativity."

     

    - Emma Robertson, 2025

     

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  • Bec Woolley

    Bec Woolley

    It's hard to put into words what a special experience stringing is. I go off into my own world when I'm stringing...

    "When you finish a necklace, you just get such a special feeling. To learn from the elders who are sharing knowledge with me that I don't have, that is pretty key to it as well. The elders won't tell you exactly where to go to find shells. You might go out shelling and not get anything.  It’s nice to know I’m playing a part in helping to keep the cultural knowledge of my ancestors alive, while playing a role in working with our traditions in a contemporary sense."

     

    - Bec Woolley, 2024

     

    Bec is an emerging aboriginal artist and represents the next generation of palawa stringers working closely with senior stringers to build her knowledge and skills.  Bec is a descendant of well-known Tasmanian Aboriginal woman Fanny Cochrane Smith, an influential matriarch who was born in 1834,  and passed on a rich treasury of cultural knowledge, including fishing and hunting skills. bush tucker and bush medicines, basket-making and necklace- stringing.  One of the highlights of Bec’s career was seeing one of her necklaces gifted to Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Hon Linda Burney MP, and her work has also been acquired by the Tasmanian State Government Collection.

     

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  • Bronwyn Dillon

    Bronwyn Dillon

    Bronwyn Dillon is a Pinterairrer woman from  the North East.  Bron’s Aboriginal matriarch and inspiration is her ancestor Fanny Cochrane-Smith, considered to be the last fluent speaker of the Flinders Island lingua franca.

     

    Her wax cylinder recordings of songs are the only audio recordings of any of Tasmania’s Aboriginal languages. Bron maintains Fanny’s descendants’ strong connection to Tasmania’s picturesque Channel and Huon Valley areas, as a continuing place of guiding inspiration for her work.

    Bron is a renowned Aboriginal knowledge-holder and cultural practitioner; traditional shell stringer; basket weaver; printer; and jewellery maker, weaving traditional practice into creative, culturally inspired pieces reflecting both traditional palawa practice, while responding to the availability of contemporary material and reflecting a modern existence.

     

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  • Charlyse Greeno

    Charlyse Greeno

    I have been shell-stringing with my grandmother since I was eight years old,and in more recent years I have been developing my own individual designs. 

     

    "Using kelp and traditional plant materials are newer practices for me. I was taught about these by my grandmother during her workshop series for her legacy project. My long Beach necklace was inspired by the sand, rocks, and water. In designing the pattern for my necklace and bracelet set, I thought about the stars and the night sky. I have created the Night Sky pattern with black crows, brown gull shells and banded kelp shells. The black crows give contrast to the brown of the earth and the silver of the stars. My small kelp vessels include twine and a penguin shell, connecting three craft traditions."

     

    - Charlyse Greeno, 2025

     

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  • Bett Gallery pays respect and acknowledges the original first people of this region, the Muwinina, and recognises Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the ongoing custodians of Lutruwita/Tasmania.

     

    A special thank you to Emma Robertson and Bec Woolley for their curatorial partnership.