Yirrkala Church Panels

The Yirrkala Church Panels are important works of art created by various Yolŋu artists for the new church on the Methodist mission at Yirrkala, on the Gove Peninsula in western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, which opened in June 1963. The two painted panels, comprising the creation stories of the various Yolŋu peoples in the area, are a rare example of traditional religions being integrated into a Christian church. Their historical significance lies in the collaboration of a number of Yolŋu artists from the various clans in the region to produce the panels as assertion of their sovereignty, in the face of a mining project which would take their land without consultation. They were therefore also political art, and preceded the Yirrkala bark petitions, which were presented to the Australian Parliament in August 1963. The church panels are now housed in the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre at Yirrkala.