Lenard Thorne explains the story behind his painting Long Neck Turtles.
This painting is about the wet lands around the Cockburn area, lakes such as North Lake, Coolbellup, Bibra Lake, South Lake, Yangebup Lake, all connecting through the wet lands.
This was an area the Nyungar people use as a food bowl, there was food in plenty supply. The turtles were part of the staple diet. Also the eggs were eaten too.
There is an old story how the Noongar used to find the eggs that were laid. The turtles when they dug their eggs into the ground would always leave a ring of yellow sand around the area they laid the eggs.
If you didn’t know where to look you would walk over them. But the gatherers would also look for yellow sand and dig there. Only a few were taken and the rest left from each nest, to preserve the turtle.