Two works of the significant 19th century Wurundjeri artist and Elder William Barak will be sold at auction next week in New York.
The pieces, an ochre drawing of a dance ceremony and a hand-carved parrying shield, are expected to sell for a significant sum, with previous auctions fetching up to half a million dollars for similar works.
In response, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Corporation have launched a GoFundMe campaign in the hopes of raising enough money to successfully bid for the works.
Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin, a descendant of Barak's, said the two works are Wurundjeri cultural heritage that had to be returned to Country.
"[Barak's work] is all about story telling," she told NITV News.
"He wanted to make it clear to people, during colonisation, that these are the ceremonies that exist, and they are significant.
Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Joy Murphy-Wandin poses for a photo in front of a collection of 19th and 20th century shields at the NGV. Source: AAP
"We're so fortunate to be able to be connected and belong to such an important person, a man of high stature."
Uncle Ron Jones, treasurer with the Wurundjeri Corporation, said the impending sale was an emotional issue.
“History should be returned back to us - the Wurundjeri people," he said.
"Bring Barak’s art home.”
Raising the necessary funds to buy the works will not be easy: they are estimated to have a combined worth of $1,000,000 dollars.
A similar campaign in 2016 was ultimately unsuccessful. Another drawing by Barak, which the Wurundjeri consider their 'Bible', set a record when it sold for over $500,000 dollars, leaving the artist's people "shattered" that they were unable to beat the sum.
A Sotheby's employee views the painting 'Corroboree' by Wurundjeri artist William Barak. Source: AFP
Barak was a leader and lore man who defended Aboriginal land rights and organised resistance to ever-encroaching dispossession, notably at Coranderrk in the late 1800s.
It was at Coranderrk, when Barak was already in his sixties, that he turned his hand to art, producing a number of accomplished works across several media which can now be found in prestigious institutions across the world.
