Name

Kumanjayi (Butcher). Cherel

Other names

JANANGOO, Butcher Cherel

Culture

Aboriginal Australian

Gender

Male

Birth date

1920

Birth place

Jainaganjoowa, Western Australia, Australia View on map Close map

Death date

17 February 2009

Death Place

Australia View on map Close map

Occupations

Artist (painter) | Drawer | Printmaker

Summary

Worked: Australia (WA). Linocuts, etchings

NGA IRN

13142

Context

Australia

Biography

Butcher Cherel Janangoo

Butcher Cherel Janangoo was born around 1920 at Jainaganjoowa, an area near the original homestead of one of the longest established cattle stations in the Kimberley, Fossil Downs. He now lives in the town of Fitzroy Crossing.

Janangoo’s mother was Kija and his father Gooniyandi. He speaks both languages as well as some Walmajarri and Bunuba. He has vivid memories of being taken “out bush” as a child and going walkabout at law time. As both of his parents worked on the station in and around the homestead, it follows that Janangoo also spent most of his working life on Fossil. As a stockman he worked cattle, droving from Fitzroy Crossing to Derby and Broome. He remembers this as being a difficult job: “real hard.”

Janangoo is a key elder of the Gooniyandi language group and has been instrumental in the retention of law ceremony at Luludja Community. He sees Aboriginal law and language as fundamentally important and feels uneasy that young people today do not have this tradition to refer to as they have not been educated as he was.

Janangoo’s works provide glimpses of his cultural and physical environment. As he stated: “with my eyes, my heart and with my brain I am thinking. When I go to sleep night time, I might ask myself ah, I might do (paint) that one tomorrow, not dreaming; I think about what to do next.”

Biography courtesy of the Australian Art Print Network, 2001.
© Australianprints

Affiliation

Gooniyandi-Kija people

ATSI region

Kimberley

Sub-region

Fitzroy Crossing

Specific location

Muludja Community

Artist’s country

Fossil Downs Station

Language

Gooniyandi

Sub-section

Jangkarti