Yuki (bark canoe): Sharing Ngarrindjeri culture – in conversation

This is a rare opportunity to hear Ngarrindjeri Elder, Uncle Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner in conversation with members of the Yuki project team.  The panel discussion will centre around the yuki, its stories and significance in Ngarrindjeri culture, and how the exhibition captures the wonder and AWE of the natural world through film and animation.

The Yuki (bark canoe): Sharing Ngarrindjeri culture is a new multimedia, immersive display which helps the Museum tell important stories of South Australia’s waterways and embed First Nations culture in the Museum’s narrative. “In our culture, we made this for thousands of years. It was taking the bark off the tree, treating it, drying it, shaping it. The yuki, the bark canoe, that’s something that we are very proud of, that it was a part of our culture – the Ngarrindjeri” Ngarrindjeri Elder, Uncle Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner.

The Ngarrindjeri were skilled canoe makers and a yuki was used for travel, fishing, hunting, and to meet up for ceremonial gatherings along the Murray River and Lower Lakes regions of South Australia. Ngarrindjeri Ruwe (Ngarrindjeri Country) extends east from Pomberuk (Murray Bridge), across the southern tip of Fleurieu Peninsula, and down to The Granites near Kingston, south of the Kurangk (Coorong).

The History Trust of South Australia teamed up with Uncle Moogy, First Nations digital creator Arthur Ah Chee (Wangkangurru man), cinematographer Josh Trevorrow (Ngarrindjeri man), and Motion Capture Specialists, Cameron Mackness and Jason Bevan from The Void, Flinders University. Uncle Moogy led the creation of a yuki, made from bark taken off a red river gum in Kuitpo Forest, Kaurna Country. The collaboration with digital creatives and the Void team enables us to share the yuki story in a unique way, using animated scenes based on motion capture data, as well as immersive project mapping onto the yuki display itself.

Join us for this special event to listen, learn and engage with the AWE of the yuki and the Ngarrindjeri culture.

Image: Uncle Moogy using the yuki at the Dolphin Sanctuary, Garden Island, Kaurna Country, April 2024. Photographer: Ethan White, History Trust of South Australia.