Western Arnhem Land Bark Paintings Collection

A collection of around 190 Aboriginal bark paintings from western Arnhem Land. This includes the first significant collections from this region assembled by Baldwin Spencer and Paddy Cahill. The 38 works collected by Spencer in 1912 are from the Alligator, East Alligator and South Alligator Rivers area of western Arnhem Land and were taken from the inside of wet season shelters. Over the following decade, another 170 or more bark paintings from Oenpelli and the Alligator Rivers area were commissioned by Paddy Cahill for the National Museum of Victoria.