Elizabeth Dixon - Women collecting bush tomatoes into coolamon

Catalogue Number: 26/87

This painting tells a story about the bush tomatoes that grow after the rain in the Central Australian Desert area. The local women living in this area go out into the bush after a big rain to collect this fruit. The brown curved shapes in the painting represent the women sitting on the ground, they have a coolamon in front of them, this is a wooden bowl used for collecting food into that were used in the old days. When the bush tomatoes are yellow it is ripe and ready to eat. If the tomatoes stay on the plant and dry in the sun and turn brown, they are still good to eat.

Aboriginal families living in Remote Central Australia go out and collect the fruit when it is ripe. The knowledge of what these plants look like and where to find them helps families stay strong and connected to their Country.