27 DN090
Dennis Nona Dhogai Zug 2005
Linocut handcoloured Paper: 1180mm x 2705mm $9250
This legend originated from Badu Island situated in the Torres Straits. There are two islands off Badu called
Zurath Island and Kulbaikulbai Island. On Zurath Island there lived a Dhogai (witch) and on Kulbaikulbai Island
there were people living there. Ocassionally Badu Island warriors would row their canoes to Kulbaikulbai to
plant their vegetable gardens. One delightful day one of the warriors saw turtle tracks on Zurath and asked the
people if they would like to go and gather the eggs. Most of the people refused because of the Dhogai living
there. A man called Gabu Kai Kai said he was not scared and rowed his baethae (half of a broken canoe) to
Zurath, where the Dhogai was. When he arrived at Zurath he saw an enormous tree with ripe haubau (fruit) and
instead of gathering the turtle eggs he decided to gather the fruit. The fruit belonged to the Dhogai who
hadwaited weeks for the it to ripen. The Dhogai would wait for the fruit to fall then gather them from the ground.
Gabu Kai Kai did not know this and collected some of the fruit in his basket. He then decided to climb the
habau tree and pick more fruit. One morning the Dhogai was very hungry and knowing that her habau fruit
would be ripe she walked down from her sakai (sleeping cave) to eat some. The Dhogai looked under the tree for
the fruit but only saw the footprints left by Gabu Kai Kai in the sand. Gabu Kai Kai heard the Dhogai say, 'Who
stole my habau'. He stayed silently in the branches but the Dhogai looked up and saw the thief with a basket full
of habaual. Then the Dhogai said to Gabu Kai Ka 'What are you doing with my haubau? To pay me back you
have to throw me down one haubau.' The Dhogai took one step and ate the haubau and said, 'I want another
one.' So he threw another down to the Dhogai. The Dhogai took two steps and ate the haubau. The Dhogai
wanted another and another until he threw the last haubau as far away as he could. While the Dhogai ran after
the haubau Gabu Kai Kai quickly jumped down from the tree and sprinted to his baetae and rowed as fast as he
could back to Kulbaikulbai Island. The Dhogai swam after him but was too slow and returned back to Zurath
Island. Gabu Kai Kai arrived back home and told his people about the Dhogai. So they all decided to make a plan
to kill the Dhogai and go to Zurath Island the next day. That afternoon they prepared all their weapons for the
next morning. Early in the morning they rowed their canoes furiously. When they arrived they went up to the
sakai (big caves) and saw the Dhogai sleeping in one of the caves. One of the warriors threw his wap (harpoon)
at the Dhogai and speared her left arm. She jumped up and ran out of the cave. They chased her and she tried to
bury herself in the ground but the ground was too hard. She then ran down to the beach where the sand was
soft and buried herself. They quickly chased her and cut off her right arm and breasts. Gabu Kai Kai and the
warriors rowed back to Kulbaikulbai Island and were overjoyed with their performance. The old people told them
to throw the breasts and the arm in the sea, but the young boy said, 'No, we'll tie them on the tree and practice
spearing them for the afternoon.' Later that afternoon one of the boys took the breasts out into the sea but left
the arm on the tree. That evening the Dhogai came while everybody was asleep, searching for her arms and
breasts. As she searched among the trees she chanted over and over again: 'Come to me my arm' and finally she
found her arm on the tree. She snatched her arm off the tree and placed it back on her shoulder. The booming
noise, as she replaced her arm, made the villagers awaken, but she couldn't find her breasts and swam back
home to Zurath Island. The next day an old man asked the young boy if he threw the left arm in the sea. He said
'No, only the breasts.' The old man said, 'That is why there was a big noise last night.' The Dhogai came back to
take her arm. Today you can see her breasts which turned into a rock between Zurath and Kulbaikulbai Islands.

Medium: Linocut handcoloured
Edition Size: 35
Printer: Theo Tremblay
Studio: Editions Tremblay NFP, Cairns
Linocut handcoloured Created At: Brisbane, QLD on September, 2005
Print Published: Cairns, QLD on December, 2005
Paper: Saunders Waterford CP 300 gsm
Paper Height: 1,180 mm ( 46.5" )
Paper Width: 2,705 mm ( 106.5" )
Image Height: 1,080 mm ( 42.5" )
Image Width: 2,605 mm ( 102.6" )
I.D. : DN090