Paddy Jaminji Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Paddy Jaminji Art Value Price Guide

Aug. 23, 2026
Paddy (Jampin) Jaminji, Turkey Creek (1912-1996), Lissadell Country c. 1984, Ochre on Plywood ceremonial danceboard
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
Paddy (Jampin) Jaminji Turkey Creek (1912-1996) Lissadell Country c. 1984 Ochre on Plywood ceremonial danceboard Community: Warmun (Turkey Creek), East Kimberley, Western Australia. Country depicted: Lissadell Station country. Markings: Reverse marking: 7153. Additional marking: No. MM6B. Description: Painted on a plywood ceremonial danceboard. This reflects the adaptation and use of traditional ceremonial objects into contemporary Aboriginal art practice. Story: The painting depicts Lissadell country as viewed from Turkey Creek (Warmun). The composition shows the hills of Lissadell Station with the river represented by a horizontal black line. According to Paddy Jaminji, the hills depicted later became the site of diamond exploration and mining. Marion Blackwell recorded that the establishment of the Warmun community followed changes to employment laws, which meant pastoral stations could no longer provide rations in lieu of wages. Many Aboriginal workers and their families left the stations, leading to the growth of the settlement at Turkey Creek (Warmun). While working on the landscape design for the Argyle Diamond Mine, Marion visited Paddy Jaminji to help negotiate employment opportunities for local Aboriginal men involved in constructing the mining village. During this visit, Marion saw numerous paintings stacked inside Paddy's simple dirt-floored hut, where four star pickets supported a makeshift table. She purchased two paintings. Paddy explained that some painted boards were still being used in ceremonial dances and would be delivered once the ceremonies were complete. Several years later Paddy personally delivered four paintings to my office, which were received by Charlotte, my secretary. Having paid for only two works, Marion asked Mary Macha to sell the remaining two on Paddy's behalf as she was establishing an Aboriginal art business from her home. This work represents one of the earliest directly acquired paintings by Paddy Jaminji, obtained during the formative years of the Warmun painting movement and closely linked to the development of the Argyle Diamond Mine and the history of the Warmun community. Additional notes: Marion's work in Turkey Creek/ Lightning Ridge for Argyle Diamond mine commenced in January 1984 with several trips up there, and continued into 1985, with another survey in November 1985.
Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers
May. 19, 2026
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI, Bedford Station, 1979
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI c.1912 - 1996 Bedford Station, 1979 ochre on board 40 x 115.2 cm (board), 43.5 x 119.2cm (framed) bears inscription verso: 1979, Paddy Jaminji, Bedford station PROVENANCE The Artist, painted at Warmun, Western Australia The Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO and Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE, Sydney, New South Wales Paddy (Jampin) Jaminji was born on Bedford Downs Station in the north-east Kimberley and spent much of his life working as a stockman on both Bedford Downs and Old Lissadell Stations. In the mid-1970s, following the strike by Kimberley station workers that led to a mass departure of Aboriginal families from pastoral properties, Jaminji became the first painter working at Turkey Creek (now Warmun). His early paintings played a formative role in the emergence of what would become one of the most important painting movements in the region. Jaminji was the classificatory uncle of Rover Thomas Joolama and worked closely with him during the early Krill Krill ceremonies that followed Thomas's visionary experiences in the mid-1970s. Jaminji was responsible for drawing many of the painted boards used in these ceremonies. Made on pieces of recycled construction timber and painted with natural pigments, the boards were carried on the shoulders of participants as part of the ceremonial performances. Each painting referred to a specific place or historical event connected to Kimberley Country. This board, created in the early 1980s, depicts the Cockburn Ranges and a distinctive hollow burnt into the trunk of a boab tree, a well-known local landmark within the region. Like many of Jaminji's works, the painting records both place and memory, anchoring personal and communal histories within the landscape of the east Kimberley. © PADDY JAMINJI JAMPIN / Copyright Agency, 2026
Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art)
May. 05, 2026
PADDY JAMINJI (JAMPIN), (c. 1912 - 1996), Hills of Bedford Station c.1982, natural earth pigments on plywood
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
PADDY JAMINJI (JAMPIN) c. 1912 - 1996 Hills of Bedford Station c.1982 natural earth pigments on plywood Paddy Jaminji was born around 1912 at Bedford Downs station in the East Kimberley and spent most of his life working as a stockman. In 1975, as award wages forced Aboriginal pastoral workers from stations across the Kimberley, he was among the first to settle at Turkey Creek, the community that would become Warmun. It was there that he assisted his nephew Rover Thomas in the evolution of the Gurrir Gurrir ceremony, painting the spirits, mythological figures, and landscapes of the songs onto discarded plywood boards using ochres and natural resins. As other community members began to paint and Thomas emerged as the movement's leading figure, Jaminji was acknowledged as its founder. His headstone at Warmun reads: "Him be the first one. Do it proper bush way." Hills of Bedford Station, estimated by Neil McLeod OAM to have been painted between 1981 and 1983, is among the early works of that founding moment. It was acquired by McLeod directly from artist and Elder Peggy Patrick OAM at Warmun in 1994, who had kept it in her house and described it as "old rubbish paintings from old man Paddy." Bedford Downs was the Country of Jaminji's birth and working life, and a subject he returned to throughout his practice. The three great arched forms in ochre, red, and yellow rising from a dark ground are the hills themselves, their peaks traced in white dots, a band of undulating dotted lines across the upper register describing the ridgeline as seen from the flat. It is a direct and monumental rendering of Country by the man who first found a way to paint it.
Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers
Mar. 25, 2026
Paddy Jaminji, Elgee cliff, half kangaroo - Krilkril Country, 1985
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
Paddy Jaminji (c.1912 - 1996) Elgee cliff, half kangaroo - Krilkril Country, 1985 natural earth pigments with bush gum on plywood 66.0 x 94.0 cm (irregular) PROVENANCE Mary Macha, Perth Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney, acquired in July 1987 Deutscher and Hackett, Sydney, 8 March 2015, lot 32 Private collection, Sydney ESSAY Paddy Jaminji was a pioneer of the East Kimberley style of painting, developed in the nascent community of Warmun (Turkey Creek), Western Australia, throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Jaminji’s Gija people had established the Warmun Aboriginal community, south of Kununurra, after government changes to pastoral wages (intended to instigate equal pay) forced stock workers, including Jaminji who was employed as a stockman on Bedford Downs Stations, off stations and reserves.1 Around this time, the destructive impact of Cyclone Tracy in the Northern Territory in 1974, was interpreted as a spiritual warning – instructions from the Rainbow Serpent to the Gija people to adhere to and strengthen their cultural practices.2 Paddy Jaminji’s nephew, Rover Thomas, experienced this warning as a series of dream visitations following the sudden death of elderly female relative (a classificatory mother, a Gija Wula speaker) in a car accident near Warmun on a road flooded following the cyclone. The episodes of Thomas’ dreaming acted as the catalyst for the efflorescence of the school of painting in the East Kimberly, codified by Thomas, Paddy Jaminji and George Mung Mung into an extraordinary contemporary corroboree song cycle accompanied by painted boards, known as the Goorirr Goorirr (Kurrirr-Kurrirr/Gurrir Gurrir/Krill Krill/Kuril Kuril) Ceremony.3 This new dreaming spoke of the old woman’s spirit taking an epic journey through the lands of East and Central Kimberley, linking sites of sacred and historical importance to several different language groups of the area. Elgee Cliff, half kangaroo – Krilkril Country, 1985 features the single icon motif of painted boards held aloft during the ritual ceremony, painted with the solid textured blocks of natural earth pigments bound with natural resins and outlined with a single line of white dotting – features which later became the hallmarks of East Kimberley painting. This painted board depicts song #14 in the cycle, Kularrta-ura Kawurru Kampani, described as ‘the old woman ‘finds’ the half kangaroo, the legendary inhabitant of this place. She sees the metamorphosed remains and blood inside the cave.’4 The remains of Tawurr, the ancestral kangaroo, rest in a cave in these cliffs, visited by the woman’s spirit. Alongside Galiru, the rainbow serpent and a crocodile, Tawurr also appears in rock art painted on this cave’s walls, the lower half of which has been eroded. The concentric forms surrounding the half-kangaroo within this painted board depict the sandstone Elgee Cliffs (Kunmanturr), on Bedford Downs Station, a geological formation aged over 1.7 billion years old, of great cultural importance to the Gija people. 1. McCulloch, S., and McCulloch Childs, E., McCulloch's Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Complete Guide, McCulloch & McCulloch Art Books, Melbourne, 2012, p. 155 2. Cubillo, F. and Reynolds, A. J., ‘Rusty Peters’, in Defying Empire. 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2017, p. 102 3. Thomas, R. et al., Roads Cross, The Paintings of Rover Thomas, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994, p. 22 4. ibid., p. 26 LUCIE REEVES-SMITH © Paddy Jaminji/Copyright Agency 2026
Deutscher and Hackett
Dec. 03, 2025
Paddy Jaminji (circa 1912-1996) Ngawallu Hills
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Paddy Jaminji (circa 1912-1996) Ngawallu Hills inscribed verso with artist's name and Warringarri Arts and Crafts cat. P570 natural earth pigments on composition board 40.0 x 50.0cm (15 3/4 x 19 11/16in).
Bonhams
Dec. 07, 2024
JAMINJI Paddy (Jampin) (Aboriginal c.1912-1996), 'Devil Devil (Manginta)' 1982., Natural Earth Pigments on Board, 82x122cm
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
JAMINJI, Paddy (Jampin) (Aboriginal c.1912-1996) 'Devil Devil (Manginta)' 1982. Signed verso. Natural Earth Pigments on Board 82x122cm PROVENANCE: Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio, Victoria, cat #KA00739 (certificate of authenticity included); private collection, Victoria.
Davidson Auctions
Jun. 20, 2023
Paddy Jampin Jaminji - Cockburn Ranges, c. 1982
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
Paddy (Jampin) Jaminji was born on Bedford Downs station in the North East Kimberley and spent most of his life working as a stockman on both Bedford Downs and Old Lissadell Stations. He was the first painter in Turkey Creek after a strike by Kimberley station workers in the mid 1970s signalled a mass Aboriginal exodus from cattle properties. Jaminji was Rover Thomas's classificatory uncle and drew the paintings for the first Krill Krill ceremonies following Rovers vision in the mid 1970s. Painting on boards using recycled construction wood and traditional materials were carried on the shoulders of the participants in these ceremonies. Each painting represents a specific location or event connected with Kimberly history. This board, created in the early 1980s, depicts the Cockburn Ranges and the hollow burnt into the trunk of a Boab tree - a local landmark.
Cooee Art
May. 23, 2023
Nest for Owls and Birds at Drowney Gorge
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
Paddy Jaminji (Narlngalwarrin Jampijin) circa 1912-1996 Nest for Owls and Birds at Drowney Gorge, 1998 Natural earth pigments and bush gum on canvas 27 ½ in x 43 ¼ in (70 cm x 110 cm)
Sotheby's
Oct. 11, 2022
Paddy Jampin Jaminji - Dreaming Place, 1982
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
Paddy Jaminji was born on Bedford Downs station in the North East Kimberley and spent most of his life working as a stockman on both Bedforn Downs and Old Lissadell Stations. He was the first painter in Turkey Creek after a strike by Kimberley station workers in the mid 1970's signalled a mass Aboriginal exodus from cattle properties. Uncle to Rover Thomas, he was the inspiration behind Rover's decision to paint and went on to inspire many others including Lena Nyadbi. Painted at Bedford Station.
Cooee Art
Mar. 08, 2022
Paddy Jampin Jaminji - Devil Devil, c.1982
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
45 x 123.5 cm, 49 x 128 cm (framed) Paddy Jaminji was born on Bedford Downs station in the North East Kimberley and spent most of his life working as a stockman on both Bedford Downs and Old Lissadell Stations. He was the first painter in Turkey Creek after a strike by Kimberley station workers in the mid 1970s signalled a mass Aboriginal exodus from cattle properties. Uncle to Rover Thomas, he was the inspiration behind Roverâs decision to paint and went on to inspire many others including Lena Nyadbi. The Devil Devil, Maginta, the spirit of Tuwarrin, is killed by another Devil Devil, Yulamangi, the boss of the Gurirr Gurirr balga when she tries to steal the ceremony. This part of the Dreaming narrative devised by Rover Thomas is directly related to Bedford Downs, the site of a massacre which occurred in the 1920s.
Cooee Art
Nov. 23, 2021
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI - UNTITLED - Ochres on board
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI (C.1912-1996) UNTITLED Dreamtime Gallery certificate of authenticity accompanies this artwork Ochres on board 30.8 x 40.8cm $4,000/6,000
GFL Fine Art
Jun. 23, 2020
Paddy Jampin Jaminji - Krill Krill Ceremony Dance Board (Cyclone Tracy)
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
Painted by Paddy Jaminji with the instruction of his nephew Rover Thomas, this work is representative of Cyclone Tracy. Ngumurliwarra â the Gidga word for Cyclone â can be literally broken down and translated as Ngumurli, meaning 'Dark', and Warra, meaning 'Growing'. During the Wet Season, immediately after Cyclone Tracy destroyed the city of Darwin in 1975, Rover Thomas had a dream relating to the death of a Gidja woman who lived at Dunham River, an Aboriginal-run pastoral station 90 km north of Turkey Creek. The woman had been travelling from Dunham River to Hall's Creek the previous Wet Season. The vehicle she had been travelling in overturned and slid off the road at a small creek just south of the Aboriginal settlement at Turkey Creek. Rover's dream explains the cause of her death and tells of the travels of her spirit back to the place where she was born. This relates to traditional sites of specific importance to people now resident at Turkey Creek. Rover's dream was incorporated into a song-cycle (Krill-Krill) by Rover Thomas and George Mung Mung. Paddy Jampinji, Rover's classificatory uncle, drew the paintings for the first ceremonies in the mid 1970s using recycled construction wood and traditional materials. The boards were carried on the shoulders of the participants in the ceremony. Each painting represents a specific location or event connected with the travel of the woman's spirit.
Cooee Art
Mar. 18, 2020
PADDY JAMINJI, (c.1912 – 1996), UNTITLED, 1987, natural earth pigments and natural binder (bush gum) on board
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
PADDY JAMINJI (c.1912 – 1996) UNTITLED, 1987 natural earth pigments and natural binder (bush gum) on board SIGNED: bears inscription verso: PROPERTY OF MARY MACHA DIMENSIONS: 60.0 x 90.0 cm PROVENANCE: Aboriginal Traditional Arts, Perth (Mary Macha) Private collection Sotheby's, Melbourne, 26 June 2000, lot 79 (as ‘Untitled, 1997’) Private collection, Melbourne
Deutscher and Hackett
Dec. 03, 2019
Paddy Jampin Jaminji (c1912-1996) Bedford Hills
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Paddy Jaminji was born on Bedford Downs station in the North East Kimberley and spent most of his life working as a stockman on both Bedford Downs and Old Lissadell Stations. He was the first painter in Turkey Creek after a strike by Kimberley station workers in the mid 1970s signalled a mass Aboriginal exodus from cattle properties. Uncle to Rover Thomas, he was the inspiration behind Rover's decision to paint and went on to inspire many others including Lena Nyadbi. This dance board was painted at Bedford Station and collected by Neil McLeod during a field trip researching sites for a book on David Mowaljarlai in 1981.
Cooee Art
Aug. 28, 2019
PADDY JAMINJI , (c.1912 – 1996), KANMANTURR, c.1984, natural earth pigments and natural binders on canvas board
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
PADDY JAMINJI , (c.1912 – 1996), KANMANTURR, c.1984, natural earth pigments and natural binders on canvas board DIMENSIONS: 45.5 x 61.0 cm PROVENANCE: Painted at Warmun, Turkey Creek, Western Australia Aboriginal Traditional Arts, Perth (Mary Macha) Private collection, Tasmania
Deutscher and Hackett
Jun. 04, 2019
Paddy Jaminji (Jampin) & Rover Thomas JoolamaÂ () Devil Devil Spirit 1985
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Paddy Jaminji, was the classificatory âuncleâ of Rover Thomas and a highly respected elder during the establishment of the Warmun Community at Turkey Creek in the early 1970s. By a strange twist of fate he became the founder of the contemporary painting style of the East Kimberley region after being displaced from his working life as a stockman along with his countrymen. In 1974, Jaminji, Thomas, and their contemporaries viewed the destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy as a manifestation of the Rainbow Serpent warning them to make a stand against sliding into the Gadiya (white manâs) ways. This cataclysmic event at the regionâs centre of European influence became, for Gidja people in particular, the focus for cultural revival. During this period of upheaval, Rover Thomas dreamed of travels visiting important sites throughout the Kimberley with the spirit of a deceased female relative. Over time the dream evolved into a ceremony that included art and dance. It was Jaminji who was initially the most prolific producer of the paintings that were associated with this ceremony. At the time, Rover Thomas described himself as apprentice and confidante to the older man whose great store of knowledge about the land, its features and spiritual significance, provided the grounding for new ideas and images. These eventually defined his unique and evocative ceremonial paintings. This painting depicts a Devil Devil, Manginta, the spirit of Tuwarrin. According to legend, Manginta is killed by Yulamangi another Devil Devil when he tries to steal the Corroboree. Boards like this were used to re-enact the story during ceremony.
Cooee Art
May. 21, 2019
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI, UNTITLED, 1984
Est: $7,000 - $9,000
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI (c.1912 – 1996) UNTITLED, 1984 natural earth pigments and natural binders on canvas board DIMENSIONS: 45.5 x 61.0 cm PROVENANCE: Painted at Warmun, Turkey Creek, Western Australia Aboriginal Traditional Arts, Perth Private collection, Tasmania
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 21, 2019
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI, UNTITLED, 1984
Est: $7,000 - $9,000
PADDY (JAMPIN) JAMINJI (c.1912 – 1996) UNTITLED, 1984 natural earth pigments and natural binders on canvas board DIMENSIONS: 45.5 x 61.0 cm PROVENANCE: Painted at Warmun, Turkey Creek, Western Australia Aboriginal Traditional Arts, Perth (Mary Macha) Private collection, Tasmania
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 29, 2018
Old Tracks to Dreaming Place
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Paddy Jaminji was born on Bedford Downs station in the North East Kimberley and spent most of his life working as a stockman on both Bedford Downs and Old Lissadell Stations. He was the first painter in Turkey Creek after a strike by Kimberley station workers in the mid 1970s signalled a mass Aboriginal exodus from cattle properties. Uncle to Rover Thomas, he was the inspiration behind Rover's decision to paint and went on to inspire many others including Lena Nyadbi. This work was painted at Bedford Station and collected by Neil McLeod and David Mowaljarlai during a field trip researching sites for a book on Mowaljarlai in 1981.
Cooee Art
Jun. 26, 2013
Paddy Jaminji (c. 1912-1996)
Est: -
Hills of Turkey Creek c.1984 natural earth pigments and bush gum on canvas 182.5 x 149.5cm (71 7/8 x 58 7/8in).
Bonhams
Mar. 24, 2013
Paddy Jaminji (circa 1912-1996)
Est: £25,000 - £35,000
Untitled (Men's Ceremonial Ground, Springvale), 1984 natural earth pigments and bush gum on canvas 94.5 x 180.5 cm (37 3/16 x 71 1/16in).
Bonhams
Oct. 15, 2012
Paddy Jaminji (Jampin) circa 1912-1996 KANGAROO MAN (BEDFORD DOWNS) (1986) natural earth pigments and binders on plywood
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Paddy Jaminji (Jampin) circa 1912-1996 KANGAROO MAN (BEDFORD DOWNS) (1986) natural earth pigments and binders on plywood signed 'Paddy' verso 64 X 120CM (IRREGULAR) PROVENANCE Painted at Warmun, Turkey Creek Private Collection, South Australia PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Smith & Singer
May. 28, 2012
Paddy Jaminji (circa 1912-1996)
Est: -
Untitled (Two Hills) bears catalogue number 22010/3 on the reverse natural earth pigments on composition board 65 x 76.5cm
Bonhams
May. 28, 2012
Paddy Jaminji (circa 1912-1996)
Est: -
Untitled natural earth pigments and natural binder (bush gum) on composition board 70 x 70cm
Bonhams
May. 28, 2012
Paddy Jaminji (circa 1912-1996)
Est: £18,000 - £25,000
Lissadel Ceremonial Figures natural earth pigments and natural binder (bush gum) on plywood 63 x 120cm
Bonhams
Nov. 10, 2011
PADDY JAMINJI (born 1912) - Untitled acrylic on board
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
PADDY JAMINJI (born 1912) Untitled acrylic on board 91.0 x 60.0 cm Provenance: Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Private Collection, Melbourne Private Collection, Sydney
Lawsons
Oct. 18, 2011
Paddy Jaminji (Jampin) circa 1912-1996 UNTITLED (DREAMINGS ON BEDFORD DOWNS) (CIRCA 1985) natural earth pigments and synthetic binde...
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
Paddy Jaminji (Jampin) circa 1912-1996 UNTITLED (DREAMINGS ON BEDFORD DOWNS) (CIRCA 1985) natural earth pigments and synthetic binder on canvas 89 X 152.5CM PROVENANCE Chips Mackinolty, Warmun, Turkey Creek (1985) Private Collection Aboriginal and Oceanic Art, Sotheby's, Sydney, 25 November 2007, lot 78, illustrated Private Collection, New South Wales A compendium of images of ancestral beings and sites in the area of Bedford Downs station including places referred to in the Gurirr Gurirr song cycle. Tawurr, the ancestral kangaroo whose bones rest in a cave on Kanmanturr (Elgee Cliffs) appears as a painting on a cave wall, the lower half of which has been eroded or washed away, thus only the upper half of the ancestor is depicted. Alongside Tawurr is Galiru the Rainbow Serpent and a crocodile. See number 14 in the Gurirr Gurirr song cycle as recorded by the owner of the ceremony, Rover Thomas in Rover Thomas, et al, Roads Cross: The Paintings of Rover Thomas, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994, p. 26 (illustrated). Wally Caruana
Smith & Singer