Mother whale, by Narritjin Maymuru, 1978

The painting depicts a whale with white toothy head, a yellow tail with black & white dots, and curved crosshatched bands on the body. To the left of the whale is a black and yellow harpoon. To the right of the whale is a long 'T'-shaped stick. The painting has a crosshatched background.

There is no evidence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people actively hunted whales. However, some Indigenous people did use beached whales as a valuable source of food, oil and other products. Whales are totemic for many coastal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups.