IT was a proud moment for both contests and the National Gallery of Australia as Qantas’s new flying aircraft, “Mendoowoorrji,” was unveiled at a Qantas hangar in Canberra this morning.

The artwork on the B737, colour which will fly east-west and WA flights as part of its regular scheduled services, is a “deconstruction” of the late artist Paddy Bedford’s 2005 painting, “Medicine Pocket.” The name “Mendoowoorrji,” is reference to Bedford’s mother country in the east Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Aboriginal elder, Matilda House, congratulated both Qantas and the NGA on observing protocols and thus making Aboriginal people “feel that it is their country” as she welcomed a large group of well-wishers into the hangar.

On hand to observe the unveiling were John and Ros Moriarty from Balarinji Studio, which has been responsible for all four planes in the Qantas indigenous flying arts series, beginning with “well am I dreaming, on a B747 aircraft in 1994.

“Mendoowoorrji” is the first in the series involving the National Gallery of Australia, in whose indigenous galleries “Medicine Pocket” now hangs.

According to Laura Berry, Qantas ‘head of community,’ the painting was adapted by the team at Balarinji, and executed by telling headquarters in Seattle USA, from which it was delivered two weeks ago.

Berry said that the familiar red backing the kangaroo on the tail of the plane, had been altered to ochre, “to match the earthy tones” the painting. As well, Boeing’s artists had to make the paint look like it had brushstrokes, so had tied paintbrushes together to get the right texture. It had taken 950 man-hours and was painted over five days. With702 dots.

While today’s unveiling was a happy occasion, in reality the plane was flown last week to the Kimberley, where it was welcomed by a group of Gidga dancers.

Ros Moriarty said that this had been “a project of the heart,” and assured those present
that they had negotiated with the artist’s estate and family to make sure that it was a true representation of the Bedford work even when deconstructed to fit the barrel shape of the aircraft.

For his part, John Moriarty said he had known Bedford—“the old fella”—and that he had been a person of the land who depicted the spirit of the country in his work of art.

The director of the National Gallery, Ron Radford, in praising this “splendid Paddy Bedford work” and, admitting that he thought it was the best of the four plane designs, said he had been that in its lifetime 5 million passengers were expected to fly in the plane.

That, he said, would make it “a great ambassador.”