Description
The cassowary has given its name to the Cassowary Coast which takes in Innisfail, Tully, and Cardwell and my Jirrbal tribe is one of the many Aboriginal custodian tribes in this beautiful tropical area. It is surrounded by the Wet Tropics World Heritage rainforest, rugged ranges, floodplains and inviting beaches with island getaways.
One of the majestic flightless icons of the Cassowary Coast is the rainforest cassowary and there is a huge statue of it at Mission Beach, an area I love to visit. My first painting is a bold one of the large imposing cassowary which takes up most of the painting whereas in the second one, the cassowary is walking into the picture. Cassowaries are 1.5-2 metres high and very heavy and they can be a dangerous bird with karate-like kicks from muscular legs and their toes are daggerlike claws. However, they are helpful seed spreaders in the rainforest. The paintings show abstract intriguing backgrounds of rainforest, water, and earth.