Wonambi as Totem

Wonambi Naracoortensis as Totem

The Wonambi naracoortensis is an extinct Australian python that measured five to six metres long and lived in the Pleistocene Ice Age period.

It is posited by anthropologists that this snake was the famous 'rainbow serpent' or Waugal of the Aboriginal myths (since many of their myths do involve extinct animals that have since been discovered). Waugal sacred sites actually correlate with found skeletons from the Wonambi family.

The Rainbow Serpent was responsible for creating major features in the landscape, and also for creating streams and lakes with its great body. In Western Australia, the Waugal threw up great boulders of granite that are still found in almost all our major waterways.

In this one, I deliberately used the rainbow to hint at the rainbow serpent symbolism, and stuck to a predominantly blue palette to celebrate the rainbow serpent's connection to rain, and Wonambi's connection to being discovered near waterways.

There is purple iridescent paint in the blue circles which didn't show up in the scan.

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18.5 x 20.5cm (or 7.4 x 8 in)
illo's board, fineliner, aquarelle, pencil, metallic and iridescent paint