Public Art: Ron Corbett, 1998

Artist: Ron Corbett, Bibbulman Yorga

A Public Art Project for the City, the bronze artwork was installed at Neil Hawkins Park on 8 July 1998.

A life-size bronze sculpture of an Aboriginal woman and her dog, Dwerda, representing the traditional owners of the Joondalup region.

“The woman is a Bibulman Yorga. The Bibulman tribe gets the name from the fact they came from the hills country that follows the coastline. These hills have many features that resemble women’s breasts or bibbys and also the fact that it is an area ruled by matriarchal society .The woman is wearing a kangaroo skin cloak called a buka (pronounced boo-ka). On her head, she is wearing ayaggardi. She is holding a wooden dish called a yandi (East Coast Coolamon). This dish carries water, fire, wood, food,babies. She is holding a wanna (digging stick).

The dog is called dwerda and is the clan totem for Wanneroo, Yanchep, Moora areas. Borunga means totem and Brorongorup is the birthplace of all Bibulman just like the Garden of Eden to Christians. Wanneroo is a songline for a country. Wanneroo is derived from Bibulman sacred word which denotes the country of vegetable foods, yams, yanget and tuart roots. How coincidental the Southern Europeans set up market gardens in this area.”