Nayombolmi

Nayombolmi or Najombolmi, who was also known as Barramundi Charlie (c. 1895 – 14 August 1967) was a Badmardi (Bininj) and Jawoyn man born at Balawurru, in the Adelaide River region, of the Northern Territory of Australia. This area is now the Kakadu National Park.

Nayombolmi was a rock artist and bark painter and he is considered to be "the most prolific known rock artist in the world".

Biography

Nayombolmi's parents were Nanggwirid, a Badmardi man, and his mother was a Jawoyn woman whose name is not recorded. He spent his early years living with his family on Badmardi Country and learned to speak many languages and dialects as well as the required bush skills and cultural knowledge. Nayombolmi became a skilled hunter and often brought down water buffalo with a spear and it was for his fishing skills that he became known as 'Barramundi Charlie'.

In the 1920s and 1930s, as colonisation in the area increased, Nayombolmi began working seasonally for buffalo hunters, such as Tom Cole, and he is also known to have worked as a dingo scalper (dogger), crocodile hunter and gold miner. Between 1929 and 1930 he met with Francis Birtles when he was gold prospecting in the area and, during this period, Nayombolmi decorated Birtles Bean Car with paintings that resembled rock art motifs. These included depictions of an emu, a freshwater crocodile, two turtles, a saratoga (fish), a hand-and-arm stencil and 14 human-like figures.