The Art of Emu

Author Koh Lin ◦

Emus are one of those interesting birds and popular Australian wildlife. Seen in their natural environment, wild emus are often encountered by travellers in the outback, as well as being a popular exhibit in wildlife enclosures. Their popularity is also evident in art and crafts, from paintings, sculpture and beanies.

There are dreaming stories about the Emu across Australia. Considered as creator spirits, if you look up into the night sky, you can see the Emu. The shape of the Emu is defined by the Milky Way (including the dark patches) and the Southern Cross. How the Emu got there, differs between aboriginal language groups. Other dreaming and artwork tell the stories of emus crossing cournty and in search of food. Other stories tell how he lost his wings in a bush fire, losing the ability to fly.

Many artists depict the Emu in their own unique way, some portraying the Emu from the tracks left on the ground as the bird passes by. Other artists such as Raymond Walters Japanangka would paint his Emu Dreaming, a landscape (whose story is only known to those with the right to the dreaming).

Another style that Raymond Walters is renowned for are his paintings depicting emu feathers, titled Ankerre Jukurrpa (Emu Feathers).

Wildlife have always played a significant part in Indigenous culture, whether it is a totemic relationship and part of a dreaming, and as bush food. The Emu like many of the totemic wildlife that are depicted, goes beyond the physicality of bush tucker, being an integral part of Aboriginal culture and dreaming and a way of connecting, sharing and passing on knowledge, and to our western perspective is often simply titled, ‘Emu Dreaming’.

There are other artists such as Tjungkiya (Linda Syddick) Napaltjarri, whose father and step-father were both Tjungarrayi and shared the same Dreaming. Linda would often depict the Emu in her paintings, as seen below from Gallery Gondwana.

A visit to the Araluen Arts Centre, especially during certain exhibition events also offer the opportunities to see emus in art.

The following Doris the Emu was in the Alice Springs Youth Recycled 2019 exhibition.

Another artistic work can be seen in the Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Alice Springs, which is home to a sculpture titled Emu by artist Al Bethune.

The Alice Springs Beanie Festival is an annual event that often have emus being depicted on many of the competition entries and other submission.

In this work, from the Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2023, emus were depicted on the winner of the Ausemade — The Great Australian Roadtrip Prize.

Visitors to Central Australia may see emus as they explore the outback or you can drop into the Alice Springs Desert Park, where (at the time of writing) you have the possibility of seeing emus.

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Check out other blogs by Koh Lin.