Yaralla - a place called home

First, a note on the name of my new little business, Yaralla Designs.

At the end of our street is a mangrove-lined inlet of Sydney’s Parramatta River, called Yaralla Bay. It’s named after the historic Yaralla House, whose grounds occupy the eastern headland and foreshore. Geographically, this may seem an obvious choice, but it means more than just an address. ‘Yaralla’ is an aboriginal word, thought to mean ‘camp’ or ‘home’, chosen by the house’s original owners. I don’t know if it belongs to the local language, but I like it because it seems to equate a camp and a home as places of comfort and safety, relating more to their function and place in the environment than whether they are made of bricks and mortar or a temporary shelter. The extensive Yaralla Estate was partly subdivided in the early 20th century for homes (including mine), and a small hospital for injured servicemen returning from the WW1. It is now the large Concord Repatriation General Hospital, where I worked some years ago. The remaining grounds of the Yaralla Estate are an oasis in Sydney’s suburban sprawl. Its mangroves, fields and relict bushland provide habitat for birds and animals, and precious open space for people (and their dogs) to enjoy. I want to capture this sense of beauty amid the prosaic in my artwork.

In choosing the name ‘Yaralla Designs’, I honour and acknowledge the traditional owners whose ancestors camped here for thousands of years before the English invasion. It’s with respect and great affection for this place I’ve named my business ‘Yaralla Designs’.

Repeating Patterns

Jungle Garden

This pattern has been adapted and turned into a seamlessly repeating design from a hand coloured linoprint The artwork was inspired by the incredible vertical gardens in Singapore’s “Gardens by the Bay” Cloud Forest. This pattern would create a lush tropical ambience as wallpaper on a small feature wall, as a duvet cover or on cushions.