Sky Country: The Seven Sisters

Overview

In Indigenous Australia, the land, skies, animals, plants and people were created by Ancestors in the sacred time of the Dreaming or tjukurpa. These Ancestors made epic journeys, traced by Songlines, across lands, and the sacred sites and places they visited carry spiritual, ecological, economic, moral and cultural knowledge that First Nations Peoples live by, passed through generations by ceremony, song and stories. The Dreaming and Songlines not only relate to events past, but are ongoing, interconnecting present and future.

The dramatic narrative of the Seven Sisters tells one of the most significant Songlines. It can be tracked across the continent from the north of Western Australia, all the way to the east coast, across the Indigenous lands. This stamp issue depicts the story and perspectives of women from three lands: Martu Country in the Great Sandy Desert (May Chapman), Ngaanyatjarra Lands in the Great Victoria Desert (Angilyiya Mitchell) and the Anungu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the north-west of South Australia (Nyunmiti Burton).

There is some variation in this complex story, but all tell of Seven Sisters who flee a lustful, shape-shifting man, Yurla/Wati Nyiru, flying into the sky. The Seven Sisters (Pleiades) can be seen chased every night across the constellation sky by Wati Nyiru (Orion).

The Seven Sisters is the subject of a major exhibition, Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters at the National Museum of Australia, currently touring internationally.

Technical specifications

Issue date: 4 June 2024
Issue withdrawal date: 1 January 2025
Denomination: 3 x $1.50
Stamp & product design: Sharon Rodziewicz, Australia Post Design Studio
Printer: gummed: Southern Impact
Printer: self-adhesive: RA
Paper: gummed: Tullis Russell 104gsm Red Phosphor/Blue PVA Stamp Paper
Paper: self-adhesive: Domain S/A Securpost MC 90 P11P Non-Phos
Printing process: Offset lithography
Stamp size (mm): 35 x 35
Perforations: 14.28 x 14.28
Sheet layout: Module of 50 (2 x 25 no design)
FDI Postmark: Alice Springs NT 0870
FDI withdrawal date: 3 July 2024

Stamps in this issue

$1.50 Nyunmiti Burton, Kungkarangkalpa - Seven Sisters

Nyunmiti Burton’s work tells how the oldest sister protected the others, making sure no-one was left behind.

Nyunmiti Burton, Pitjantjatjara people, Kungkarangkalpa - Seven Sisters 2020, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 290 x 290 cm, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

$1.50 Angilyiya Tjapiti Mitchell, Kungkarrangkalpa - Seven Sisters

Angilyiya Mitchells painting describes how, after stopping at a rocky escarpment at Kura Ala, the sisters (Kungkarrangkalpa) ate part of Wati Nyiru, who had transformed into a carpet snake. They became ill and vomited before escaping, flying up to become stars.

Angilyiya Tjapiti Mitchell, Papulankutja Artists, Kungkarrangkalpa - Seven Sisters 2014, acrylic on canvas, 139 x 137.5 cm, National Museum of Australia. © Angilyiya Tjapiti Mitchell/Copyright Agency, 2023.

$1.50 May Chapman, Janawa - Seven Sisters

Chapman’s Janawa depicts a place in Martu Country, where the frightened sisters (Minyipuru) first fled the pursuing Yurla.

May Chapman, Martumili Artists, Janawa [Januwa] 2009, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 91 x 91.1 cm, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Felton Bequest, 2011. © May Chapman/Copyright Agency 2023.