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In the 1960s a severe drought hit the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia.
Many blamed mining in the Pilbara, which had drained large underground rivers.
The Yulparija and Mangala people, who lived at Winpa near Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route, were dying from lack of water.
There was little option but to leave their traditional country and head to the various missions which they had learnt about through other countrymen (who had met the whitefellas through the trading of metals and matches and told of plentiful food and water).
The Yulparija ended up in saltwater country at La Grange Mission now known as Bidyadanga, two hours drive south of Broome, the traditional country of the Karrajarri.
For 40 years the desert people, their children and their grandchildren knew saltwater ways - even the old people ate fish by now.
But the old people worried that their traditional stories would be lost to their children and grandchildren although they were still able to depict it in the paintings they did.
Although the old people and their families travelled regularly to Punmu, Kuniwariji (Well 33) and Pungorr, they wanted to visit what they called Winpa, a very powerful rainmaker.
In 2006 some of these artists were able to do this in a trip organised by Emily Rohr and Michael Hutchinson, the owners of the Short St Gallery in Broome, who represented them.
This journey was made into a documentary, Desert Heart, which screened on the ABC in 2007. It focused on Daniel Walbidi, a young artist whose parents were among those who walked out of the desert in the 60s, and this was his first trip to Winpa.
For five years Rohr had heard about a desire to visit this country and was determined to ensure that the old people would be able to return with the next generation to show them this very powerful and important rain-making place.
The artists included Nabiru Bullen, Weaver Jack, Alma Webou, Margaret Baragurra, Donald Moko, Mary Meribidida Merridoo and Agnes Walbidi, Wokka and Muuki Taylor, Terrence Jack and Caroline Nuidoo, who still live at Bidyadanga.
The artists are represented by her gallery, which was established in 1998 when there was nowhere else in town showing Aboriginal art.
It's in a 100-year-old timber building in Chinatown and specialises in the art of the Kimberley region as well as showing work from all over the country.
Short St Gallery Studio manager Abi Temby says there's a constant tension between Aboriginal artists and the white art market.
As a westerner it is easy to judge the work in terms of colour, line and form. But for Aboriginal people story, culture, country and community become the important elements or reference points.
As well as bringing in dream stories, the landscape they paint incorporate contemporary and historical references.
The Kimberley has about 28 different languages and cultures, with the people all responsible for different country.
Temby says the celebration of land is evident in all the Kimberley works and is possibly the consistent link between the different schools of painting which are emerging from this region.
The use of canvas, paper and acrylic paints in Fitzroy, Balgo, and Bidyadanga is relatively new and has seen colour exploding from every inch of the canvas or paper.
The works of the Yulparija and Mangala artists reflect the contemporary experiences of these people, with desert iconography portrayed but in the rich blues and reds and greens of the coastal landscape.
Turkey Creek and Kununurra-based artists insist on using ochre; if it is truly the land it needs to be painted with the land, hence the subtle and richly textured works of Warmun. The wandjina - or spirit figure - varies according to the materials available and sometimes are painted in acrylic and other times in natural earth pigment.
Temby says each artist has a specific country and its associated stories that they can tell - and it's told over and over. The country is the same, but anyone that has a garden knows that it never looks the same on any two days or even moments.
Short St Gallery supports the community art centres, as well as representing some artists directly, where there are no art centres such as Bidyadanga. They hold their own exhibitions and the artists also have their work widely exhibited and collected around the country and internationally.
Those who have a serious interest in this art and are interested in buying it, can make an appointment to visit the Bungalow - a former pearling master's house - in Broome where many works of art are kept.
With the help of a curator, visitors can see the breadth of the collection and receive a more in depth look at what is available.
In the garden of the atmospheric old building artists who are visiting Broome or now live there work on their canvasses.
Another artist who is represented here is Aubrey Tigan, a respected elder and law man from the Bardi and Jawu people, whose country is on the peninsula north of Broome.
A trained jeweller, he has made riji (engraved pearl shell) since he was initiated at the age of 21.
Pearl shell was used as ornamentation and held on belts made from spun human and sometimes animal hair.
Temby explains traditionally riji are used in Boongan the third last stage of Bardi men's initiation,. With their lustre and watery aspects, they were traded right through to the desert country, where they were used as part of rain-making ceremonies. Desert women never touch riji as they believe they can make you sick.
The first contact the Aboriginal people of this area had with outsiders was in the 1600s, with visits by Macassan traders and then whalers and then the explorer William Dampier.
As one expert has said, the discovery of pearl shell changed Aboriginal life forever and by the late nineteenth century European pearlers and pastoralists had begun to settle the region.
If you go:
A Study in Materiality opens at the Short St Gallery on September 18.
It features works from Maningrida, Buku-Larrngay Mulka (Arnhem Land), Jilamara, Munupi, Tiwi Design, Ngaruwanajirri (Tiwi Islands), Warmun and Waringarri (East Kimberley) and Worora and Wunambul (Wandjina Country).
Short St. Gallery, 7 Short Street, Chinatown, Broome WA 6725. Call: (08) 9192-2658, email: staffshortstgallery.com or visit: www.shortstgallery.com
