Selma Marrbarmarnyar Hoosan b. 1980

I was born in Darwin in 1980 in the old hospital at Myilly Point...no hospital in Borroloola so mum (Nancy McDinny) was flown up to Darwin to give birth. Dad (Stewart Hoosan) arrived, and I was born just as he got out of the bus! It was their first time to Darwin.  I grew up on Wandangula outstation until I was about 16 then Sandridge outstation near Borroloola. I'm Garrwa and Yanyuwa.   

When I was younger, I was always out in the bush...there was no need to go into town. I grew up in the mustering camps, my grandfather’s country. My favourite thing every day was hunting for turtle...we don't fish for it, we dig. I would walk down to the lagoon to get turtle in a wheelbarrow. I used to hunt a lot with all those old ladies...they all gone now...I used to take them out on the tractor. Dad would give me the keys and I'd take them all out to hunt for turtle...ten or twelve of them! Sometimes it would take three trips, and they were hanging off the side of that tractor! One night we had to camp out there because we got a flat tyre. Dad was worried and he was cranky when he came to find us the next day. He brought cooked chicken, but we had already caught all the turtles and had a big feed!

My Dad and Mum was always mustering, and we lived really in tin sheds growing up, but I love the bush and hunting and now painting. I want to dedicate these paintings to Billy Kid, dads fathers cousin and my Dad Stewart Hoosan and Danny McDinny my grandfather. My uncle Gordon Rory; Myras husband and Linda's husband Freddy Rory. I almost forgot about the McDinny girls, my mum, and aunties. They tailed the cattle and rode the horses and bring the bullocks to the mob. the black soil country was dangerous too.

When we was kids we would just dance every night. Mum was the best teacher of all the dance and the songs and the culture. Now I'm the leader of the dance - mum's dance, our dance. Ngabaya Dance. I sing all the songs too. I take the lead, today now I teach all the young kids for dancing.

At Wandangula (Police Lagoon) we went to a bush school in the Bough Shade. Mum was the assistant teacher. We used to go to a lot of mustering camps with Mum and Dad and all the family. School was in the bush and the mustering camps. But sometimes we would steal some milk and sugar and run off into the bush and make our own feed! We had lots of fun...we would jump on a horse at stock camp...later there was no school in stock camps, only at Wandangula. I went to boarding school in Darwin until Year 10.

I saw my grandfather paint, and my Mum and Dad. I didn't want to paint first. I was an assistant teacher at Wandangula after I finished school. I was a Board Member at Mabunji and I worked at the Malandirri Store. Now I like painting...I can sit and relax and think about the country and the stories and the memories.

I feel good painting, my stories are filling my head now. I have to paint them.

Statement

Poor bugger those cattle some ties no tail. no ear. no eyeball. you gotta watch the places... crocodile... true.
Straight across from King Ash Bay. The crow had the fire stick, and he cooked all his feed. Chicken hawk owned the fire and crow had the water. They would light. We take all our kids there and teach them all about that country and how the ancestors came there. One side is Poison Creek, and the other side is Macarthur River that runs through here and right out to the sea. We are happy in the land walking around and hunting and this is the main hunting place for everyone in the community. Hunting for turtle, blue tongue lizard, everything.

Two lagoons Wardalumba.. we go right into the lagoon in the scrub it’s a bushy little lagoon we call it Piger Swamp. All the family, my father, grandfather we all go there. We used to take a little truck and sit there all day, do a lot of hunting, and have lunch and everything. Go back home late in the afternoon.

Old Mick Baker - dingo bait all along the creek. Lurmarnuya - Poison Creek

Big crocodiles in that river. This is when I was small...I remember my dad (Stewart Hoosan) on the tractor. Fencing at Macarthur River.  That Costello Creek, Ardala area. That's our little hunting ground. I used to walk on them hills with that old lady we used to look for sugar bag. Walk up we burn bushfire and sit on that hill and wait and we see bees flying around and then we go back and dig them out. Costello Creek

Dungala, Garrwa Country. The rocky escarpments in Garrwa Country. Dungala is my grandfather's country. Yunda Yunda Wawarra. Sea Dust. Sea dust coming from the salt pans. The people see the smoke coming off the salt pans and know it’s a sign for the hot weather coming.

All the Bush Fruits and Medicines Jurbardirri. Bush foods

Larrngundu is also referred to as "billygoat plum" It is the pink and green fruit. Barlarru is the white plum.  Bunkurri is the yellow fruit hanging down from the river. Karlwarkariwar is the white fruit hanging down from the river.  Ngarmarrakar is the mango shaped green fruit - this is a bush banana. Muralo is the dark green fruits - these are bush cucumbers. Jarrkarrkalarni is the small pink fruit, it grows every two years from December through till January as well as the small grey fruits which are called Kurrnurkurjar and Wurliburri.

Manangoora Ngambarlarngi Yarji. Our Country

All The Stations

Warkukarli
Wurngkuwar (Fletcher River )
Marruwarra
Lumarnyar (Poison Creek )
Wandangula Lagoon
Ardarla Lagoon and Hunting Ground.
Wardalumba Plain
Wurburlarbar
Murkurala ( 5 Mile lagoon )
Honeymoon and 20 Mile
Arthwarliyarngu and Andawaliyuna scrubby part of turtle lagoon .