Jack Dale Mengenen / Gularu Wandjina from Iondra (NM3651)

Photo of Jack’s daughter, artist Edna Dale, with her father’s artwork, Artlandish Gallery, 2025

Jack Dale Mengenen was a Ngarinyin senior lawman, born in the bush on Mount House Station (via Derby), Far North Western Australia in c.1922. Jack was “custodian” of the traditional culture, stories, and beliefs of his Ngarinyin people, who inhabited the King Leopold Ranges of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. By the time he passed away peacefully in 2013 he was one of the most important Indigenous artists of the Kimberley region.

Jack was Kimberley history personified. His mother, Moddera, was an indigenous woman traditional to the Komaduwah clan that falls within the Mount House pastoral lease. Jack’s father, who died when Jack was a small boy, was a hard-living frontiersman who reputedly died (unlamented) as violently as he lived.

After a lifetime as a stockman, retirement sat heavily on Jack so he started to document his own rich cultural history and significant historical events in the Kimberley through his paintings.

There are no records of his birth. He was born at a time when it was common to kill the babies of indigenous women who were fathered by white men, either by the orders of the father, or by senior members of the mother’s clan concerned about possible disruption to tradition and social order in the future. It is uncertain why Jack’s life was spared. Following the death of his father, he grew up in the bush with his mother’s father, learning about traditional law and the ways of the hunter-gatherer, with a constant threat of being abducted by police and placed in an institution.

For most of his life Jack worked as a stockman and was greatly revered amongst old stockmen as a skilled, tough uncompromising man who was never thrown from a horse or beaten by a beast.

Melbourne natural history photographer, artist and entrepreneur, Neil McLeod visited Jack Dale during the late 1980’s at the suggestion of David Mowaljarlai and anthropologist Kevin Shaw. Ten years later, in 1997, re-introduced by Shaw, McLeod asked Dale if he would consider painting. The old man, by now in his 70’s was excited that someone had come to him at last to record his knowledge and traditions. McLeod supplied the materials and encouraged Dale to begin painting. As one of the last, dwindling, generation of old men who possessed a complete knowledge of the rituals, law and culture of his people Jack Dale had become a vital link to the past.

“When us old fellas pass away our history and stories will be in my paintings” – Jack Dale, 2007

Selected Solo Exhibitions
• 2023 Jack Dale Mengenen | ‘Going home to my Wandjina’, Art Mob, Hobart
• 2021 Life at the Frontier, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2019 Cup of Tea, Biscuits and Old Mates, Art Mob, Hobart
• 2015 A window to a hidden past: Jack Dale, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2013 Jack Dale, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2011 Jack Dale Mengenen, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2006 Jack Dale – A Kimberley History, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2006 Jack Dale, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
• 2006 Jack Dale, Framed Gallery, Darwin
• 2004 Jack Dale – Narrungunni Dreamplaces, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2004 Jack Dale, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
• 2003 Jack Dale, Kintolai Gallery, Adelaide
• 2002 Jack Dale – Kimberley History, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
• 2001 Jack Dale – Djumba Ceremonies, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
• 2000 Jack Dale | Senior Law Man, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne

Selected Group Exhibitions
• 2022 Connection, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
• 2019 Lunar Legacy, ArtMob, Hobart
• 2019 Defining Tradition | the colourists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2019 Grounded in Truth: Walk Together with Courage Reconciliation Week at Art Mob, Hobart
• 2017 Gems of the Stockroom, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2017 Biddy and Jack Dale Mengenen, ArtMob, Hobart
• 2016 O Tempo Dos Sonhos, Arte Aborigene Contemporanea da Australia, Caixa Cultural, Sao Paolo
• 2012 Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2007 Kimberley Personified – Jack Dale, ArtMob, Hobart
• 2007 The Stockman & the Medicine Man: Jack Dale & Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2006 Framed – The Darwin Gallery, Darwin
• 2006 Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2006 Jack Dale – Jalala Marking Stones for Wandjina , Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, Sydney
• 2006 The Darwin Gallery, Darwin
• 2006 Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2006 Coo-ee Gallery. Sydney
• 2004 Tineriba Gallery, Hahndorf, SA
• 2003 Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne
• 2002 Michel Sourgnes Fine Arts, Brisbane
• 2002 Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne
• 2002 Art Mob, Hobart
• 2001 Wandjina, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
• 2001 Kimberley Works, Burrinja Gallery, Melbourne

Awards and Recognition
• 2022 Connection | Songlines from Australia’s First Peoples in a spectacular immersive experience, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
• 2019 Jack Dale’s artowork featuring in: For Country for Nation, Australian War Memorial Touring Exhibition, Canberra
• 2012 Jack Dale ranked 66th in The Australian Indigenous Art Market Top 100 (AIAM100)
• 2011 A selection of Jack’s artworks was featured in the Indigenous Law Bulletin November / December 2011 Volume 7 Issue 27

Collections
• Australian War Memorial, Canberra
• National Museum of Australia, Canberra
• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
• National Parliament Collection, Canberra
• Jacqui McPhee Collection, Perth
• Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne
• Foundation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Motiers, Switzerland

Wandjinas are the most powerful spirit ancestors in the Kimberley. They are the life-force; all children are born from Wungud which was created by Wandjina. These Wandjinas are painted in rock shelters at Iondra in the Komaduwah Clan estate. They are our evidence in this land and for my land title. They are proof of ownership to my land. I footwalked this country plenty of times. This is a proper dreaming place. “Guidia” white man got bible stories and we have our Wandjina. – Jack Dale

As one of the last of the dwindling generation of old men who possessed complete knowledge of the rituals, law, and culture of his people, Jack Dale was a vital link to the past. A custodian of ancient stories about the land and its creation, his most compelling and mysterious works focus on the Wandjina and other important spirit beings that created the land and instituted the laws that govern human behaviour. Wandjinas are powerful fertility spirits, responsible for the life-giving monsoon rains. Jack believed that the ‘big boss’ Wandjina could rally his attendants when conflict occurred between humans. He depicted these spirits in a distinctive style: ghost like, with halos, large, dark, pool-like eyes, and without mouths, for, according to Dale, giving them a mouth would mean the heavens would open and the rain would never cease. “Whites have the bible. We have our Wandjinas. We have to go to these places else we are empty,” said Dale. These Wandjina sites, located throughout the Kimberley, are over 60,000 years old and are painted on rock overhangs, often marked by striking geological features like the Djalala or ‘marking stones’ that indicate their presence. For health reasons, Dale spent the last years of his life in the closest town, Derby. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Grand Old Man of the Kimberley’, Jack was a highly respected tribal elder, both for his custodianship of Ceremonial Law and for his skill as a bushman. He came to painting late in life, after many hard-working years as a stockman. Even then, he was revered for his extensive knowledge and admired for his physical strength and determined attitude. This, he re-lived and communicated in his painting, sharing with an international audience a powerful experience of the inimitable Kimberley genius precariously balanced at the crossroads of change.