Waanungga (sugar bag) is a screenprint by Ngarinyin artist Gudu Mungulu in the Parliament House Art Collections.

Waanungga is a word that describes the many forms of bush honey. The hives in which the honey is stored are called ‘sugarbag’ and can be found in trees and termite mounds.¹ First Nations peoples in many parts of Australia have been harvesting honey from bees for millenia.²

For the Ngarinyin people, the Wandjinas, which are powerful ancestral rain maker spirits of the Kimberley region, keep the countryside fresh and healthy which allows the native bees to produce high quality honey in Mungulu’s homeland.³

When talking about her art, Mungulu says,

I paint my own Wandjina stories like painting the honey bee. I got permission from the older people, owners of those things. The honey bee should be black but I put maybe yellow on the back. Story is plain black but I add colour. Nobody told me. I did it on my own to do something to make it standout.⁴

Gudu Mungulu
Gudu Mungulu (born 1936) is a highly respected Ngarinyin artist and Elder from Pantijan, Western Australia. She started painting at Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre in 1998 and is renowned for her paintings of bush tucker, including waanungga (bush honey). She is keenly engaged with her local community and passes on stories and language of her Ngarinyin clan to the students at Derby District High School, Western Australia. Her work is represented in private collections and is featured at the Perth International Airport.⁵

References
1. Mowanjum Art & Culture Centre, “Waanungga (sugar bag) by Gudu Mungulu”, accessed September 30, 2025. https://qr.sam.org.au/22543972873-2/ 
2. Zara Margolis, “Sugarbag bee honey a feast from nature, with stingless insects creating delicious outback bush tucker”, ABC, 21 June 2018, accessed September 30, 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-21/native-honeybees-provide-popular-bush-tucker/9333278 
3. Ro Hill, “Recognising indigenous pollination conservation practices”, CSIRO, 12 March, 2019, accessed September 30, 2025. https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2019/march/pollinators
4. Short St Gallery, “Gudu Mungulu”, accessed September 30, 2025. https://www.shortstgallery.com.au/artists/524-gudu-mungulu/biography/
5. Ibid.