The Tobwabba Art Story

TOBWABBA ART tells the story of the Worimi people from the Great Lakes region of coastal New South Wales.  TOBWABBA ART is a living portrayal of the rich and diverse culture of the Worimi people that has been passed down through the generations.

The Worimi tribe is made up of several local groups (known as nurras); These include the Buraigal, the Gamipingal, the Garawerrigal and the Wallamba. Before contact with white settlers, the Worimi people extended from Port Stephens in the south to Forster/Tuncurry in the north and as far west as Gloucester.

The people of the Wallis Lake area, called Wallamba, had one central camp site which was at the place now known as Coomba Park. The camp was used until 1843 and descendants of the original people still live in the area today. The Wallamba had possibly up to 500 members before white contact was made. The middens around Wallis Lake area suggest they had ample food and ate welk, pipi, oyster, crab, cockles, Venus shell and prawns as well as many varieties of fish, yams and occasionally wallabies, kangaroos, echidnas, waterfowl and fruit bats. Fire was an important feature of their life, both for campsites and the periodic "burning" of the land.

The name TOBWABBA means "place of clay" and refers to a hill on which the descendants of the Wallamba now have their homes. They make up a "mission" called Cabarita with their own Land Council to administer their affairs. The people now number less than 200, and from these families, in the main, came the members of the Tobwabba artist collective. In their work, they express their own life and what they imagine the life of their ancestors to have been.

The Tobwabba Art Group is 100% Aboriginal owned business developed with the artists by their own Land Council. Royalties from the sale of VISIT Merchandise licensed products are returned to the artists. Over the more than 20 years of our association those royalties have delivered meaningful economic and social benefits to the artists and their local community.

VlSlT is proud to have been part of the success of the Tobwabba Art group.

The Artists

Ron Potter

Ron prefers to work in the earthier tones associated with traditional Aboriginal art.

Ron is nearing the end of a teaching degree at the Australian Catholic University. He says that both his skills in art and his new knowledge of Aboriginal culture have come in handy in his studies. Ron works one day a week at a local Primary school teaching Aboriginal art and culture.

Graham Ridgeway

Graham was born and bred in Forster N.S.W. He has been with Tobwabba Art since it began in 1992. He paints mainly using natural earth colours. Graham enjoys the recognition he receives as an artist, and the support and positive responses he receives from being part of the Tobwabba Art collective.

Mandy Davis

Turquoises, purples and blues are the colours Mandy enjoys working in. She finds working in an Aboriginal workplace very relaxing, and says that she gets a lot of personal and professional support from the group. “It’s great to find something you really enjoy doing. I’d never give it up”.

Terry Johnstone

Terry was born in Sydney, but has been a member of the Forster Aboriginal community for many years. Like the rest of the Tobwabba artists, Terry spends two days a week in the studio. He also does a great deal of work on his art at home. Terry is more comfortable working in bright colours.

Eva Leon

Eva was born in Kempsey, and moved to Forster when she was sixteen. 
At eighteen she moved to Sydney and remained there for thirty-three years before moving back to Forster.

Eva has no particular preference for colours, and enjoys experimenting with different styles. For the future, Eva wants to see Tobwabba continue to grow, and to be really successful in the future. In time, she would like to see the kids from the Aboriginal community get involved in Tobwabba. 

Kel Cunningham

Kel is a local Aboriginal artist and winner of the Maria Lock Award in Liverpool, Sydney, 1996. He has had works of art on display in Canberra, Parliament House in the Year of the Indigenous People. 

A direct descendant of the Worimi tribe who lived in the area, he is 37 years old and has lived in the area since birth. He has been painting Aboriginal Art for 5 years. 

He also likes to make and paint didgerdoos and has been painting for Tobwabba for 5 years. He would like to teach young Aboriginal kids to paint and to learn a bit of their culture.

Jan Leon

Jan was born in Kempsey. She moved to Forster as a teenager, and then spent many years in Sydney. In Sydney she studied screen printing, ceramics and painting at Milperra CAE.

The artists' use of colour is quite unique. Finally the art work is very neat, and great attention is given to detail. The reduction in the unemployment level in the local Aboriginal community and the new income coming in to the community are two of the big positives which have come from Tobwabba as far as Jan is concerned.

Len (Moe) Cunningham

Moe was born in Forster, has spent his life in the area and is a direct descendent of the Worimi tribe. 

Travelling throughout Australia at different times, Moe is an original founding artist of Tobwabba. 

Moe enjoys a more modern style of painting using traditional symbols. Apart from painting, he enjoys working in wood and decorating his creations. He finds painting to be an outlet for his creative skills and spends nearly all his time involved with his many crafts.

VISIT Merchandise proudly supports the Indigenous Art Code ensuring fair and ethical trade in
​Australian Aboriginal Artwork.
Royalties from the sale of licensed products go directly to TOBWABBA ART and benefit the Worimi community.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ART © TOBWABBA ART