Uploaded February 2010 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Peter Djumbu, Trevor Djarragaygay, Judith Dhuru, and Athu at Buwarni in north-central Arnhem Land showing how a dugout canoe (naku or lipalipa) is made. This practice is rare these days in Arnhem Land, aluminium dinghies and outboard motors are so much easier! The only tree that can be used to make a lipalipa is gulu (Bombax sp.) because it is light and easily carved. Djumbu jokes that if a dugout canoe is made from a stringybark tree, you'll find yourself under the sea! Gulu is also the tree of choice for making small carvings for sale to the tourist trade.
In the old days, Yolngu did not have metal axes but used stone for wood craft. A stone tool with a sharpened edge would be hafted onto wooden handles using string and the wax from the native bee, the resulting stone axe could be used for chopping down trees to make a lipalipa or a yidaki.
The dugout canoe is really of Indonesian origin. Prior to the dugout, Yolngu people used the bark from paperbark trees to make rafts for crossing rivers. These were very impermanent structures but did their job. The bark from stringybark trees could also be fashioned into canoe-like vessels, if you've seen Ten Canoes you'll know what I mean. The dugout offered an advantage in being more structurally sound and more permanent, and could be used in the sea for fishing and hunting turtle, as well as traveling long distances to visit family or to attend ceremony.
I recorded this video for Michael Christie at Charles Darwin University for its Lipalipa Project.
Peter Djumbu, Trevor Djarragaygay, Judith Dhuru, and Athu at Buwarni in north-central Arnhem Land showing how a dugout canoe (naku or lipalipa) is made. This practice is rare these days in Arnhem Land, aluminium dinghies and outboard motors are so much easier! The only tree that can be used to make a lipalipa is gulu (Bombax sp.) because it is light and easily carved. Djumbu jokes that if a dugout canoe is made from a stringybark tree, you'll find yourself under the sea! Gulu is also the tree of choice for making small carvings for sale to the tourist trade.
In the old days, Yolngu did not have metal axes but used stone for wood craft. A stone tool with a sharpened edge would be hafted onto wooden handles using string and the wax from the native bee, the resulting stone axe could be used for chopping down trees to make a lipalipa or a yidaki.
The dugout canoe is really of Indonesian origin. Prior to the dugout, Yolngu people used the bark from paperbark trees to make rafts for crossing rivers. These were very impermanent structures but did their job. The bark from stringybark trees could also be fashioned into canoe-like vessels, if you've seen Ten Canoes you'll know what I mean. The dugout offered an advantage in being more structurally sound and more permanent, and could be used in the sea for fishing and hunting turtle, as well as traveling long distances to visit family or to attend ceremony.
I recorded this video for Michael Christie at Charles Darwin University for its Lipalipa Project.
