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About Us

Welcome to Dreamtime Kullilla-Art!

Welcome to Dreamtime Kullilla-Art, a 100% Aboriginal family-owned Art Gallery and Retailer of an extensive range of authentic Aboriginal artwork and merchandise, available online and in our Redcliffe store.

The Art Gallery showcases the work of business owner Michael J. Connolly and other renowned Aboriginal artists. Michael takes inspiration from the ancient Aboriginal Dreamtime stories and his Aboriginal heritage, bringing this to life in Dreamtime Kullilla-Art, a tribute to his paternal ancestors, the Kullilli People from far SW Queensland.

The Retail Store provides a unique shopping experience with a visual feast of vibrant, culturally significant Aboriginal designs in various formats. Some of the products we stock are Aboriginal artwork, handcrafted artefacts, homewares, gifts, apparel, jewellery, stationery, and bush tucker. Our customers call it their one-stop cultural shop.

Our customers also shop with the confidence that any purchase they make is authentic in origin and will benefit the Aboriginal designers. That’s because every purchase made at Dreamtime Kullilla-Art is backed by the owner’s guarantee the range has been curated for cultural authenticity, and every Aboriginal designer’s work featured is recognised through royalty-paid licenses.

Visit us in our store at Unit 1/349 Macdonnell Rd, Clontarf Qld or shop online at www.kullillaart.com.au, and we will bring Dreamtime Kullilla-Art wherever you may be.

Authentic products

Authentic products

Honest pricing

Honest pricing

Genuine service

Genuine service

Why is Dreamtime Kullilla-Art

Being an Aboriginal Artist I saw and experienced first hand the imitation, exploitation and theft of Intellectual Property of Aboriginal Artists Australia wide. Also noticed the many levels of misrepresentations and mis-information and non-information about Aboriginal Culture that was generating a lot of ignorance so I decided to do something about that and together with my wife - Jo, we created Dreamtime Kullilla-Art so we could begin to change people’s perception on Aboriginal Culture, the People and History, their Art my Art, Dance and Music - a culture that goes back over 100,000 years, in fact the oldest living culture on earth so they could see and appreciate the beauty as we do.

LISTEN - LEARN - RESPECT

Sadly “Aboriginal Art” is not a brand that can be easily protected like Gucci and Nike and the like - there is this “grey” area where these Imitators operate within and exploit and they get away with it with using lame terms like Aboriginal “style” Art” or Aboriginal “design” Art which is just wrong - it either IS or it’s NOT. The intention is clear - they are wanting to fool the customer. So not only are you being fooled and not getting value for money but legitimate artists are losing their traditional right to earn income because of the “cheap” imitated imported products.

So what have we done? We have therefore tried to create an arena both online and via our walk-in shop/gallery here in Redcliffe (within the beautiful Moreton Bay Region of SE Qld) whereby you, the customer, not only goes away with your genuine product purchase, but you have also enjoyed your experience and have gained a little more knowledge about our Culture.

Dreamtime Kullilla-Art has now developed into THE ONE STOP CULTURAL SHOP where people can confidently shop KNOWING that they are purchasing quality, genuine, proper royalty-paid Aboriginal Art products be it made in China or overseas or in Australia under strict Licence Agreements and that sales directly benefit the Artists and their communities - we can guarantee that fact.

We now believe that we have anything for everyone from a keyring/bookmark, jewellery to tablecloths, “proper” boomerangs & artifacts, bush tucker (like jams, sauces, spices etc), small and large original artworks and so much more as our ONLINE Shop will testify to and all done by legitimate royalty-paid Artists which we are absolutely proud of. Many artists we know either personally and /or professionally or by reputation.

2022 marks 26 years since we first commenced Dreamtime Kullilla-Art (beginning in May 1996 under an umbrella at a local market) and during this time we have sourced and forged great associations with all our Suppliers/Manufacturers who have ethical and legitimate Royalty contracts with their Artists and they all have endorsed us a recommended Supplier of their range of quality Aboriginal Art products.

That is - WHY is Dreamtime Kullilla-ArtWe are a small but dynamic Aboriginal owned and managed family business.

We are passionate about our product and our brand and trust you will become too so Welcome to Dreamtime Kullilla-Art. Enjoy your shopping experience and trust you are like a boomerang and return and if you have, please tell your family and friends of this awesome shop

Michael's Biography

Michael Connolly is an Aboriginal from Charleville, south west Queensland and a descendant of the Kullilla Tribe from the Thargomindah and Eulo region on his Father's side and from the Muruwari People from Goodooga and Brewarrina region of north-west New South Wales on his Mother's side who can trace their traditional trade and diplomatic links with Central Desert as well as South Australian and Northern New South Wales' Aboriginal Communities. With this rich Indigenous background and a unique way of interpreting his cultural heritage Michael is able to represent a unique perspective in the visual and performing arts that informs his significant work in cross cultural contexts.

 

Michael is an enthusiastic and highly motivated professional Aboriginal artist and craftsman with excellent people skills and has worked extensively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, business associates and stakeholders, and the general public throughout Australia.

Michael’s career has progressed from an individual Aboriginal artist and performer in Brisbane, Queensland, to focusing on personal and business development for Dreamtime Kullilla-Art to being now recognised as a renowned Aboriginal artist and craftsman, performer and facilitator. Michael is dedicated to improving his business whilst also promoting and raising awareness of Aboriginal culture and its people out of his respect for the deep richness of diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories in Australia.

His international experience as an Indigenous Australian Ambassador in a range of countries including Brunei, India, Malta, Singapore, Switzerland, China and Hong Kong, demonstrate his ability to promote and deliver Aboriginal culture and to work independently and responsibly in many cross-cultural environments. Playing didgeridoo and performing in other countries has been one of the highlights of Michael’s career to date. Michael shares his time between art, cross-cultural training, consultancy and mentoring and has been involved in assisting remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory to become more self sufficient in such areas as tourism, land management and market gardening.

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Capability Statement

Our Mission Statement

We aim to provide a complete authentic cultural experience for Australian and World-wide customers through the sale of quality Aboriginal Art both original and souvenirs as well as Bush Tucker products.

Our Vision Statement

We intend to be within the top five visited online stores for Aboriginal art and art products within Australia and the World boasting an impressive range of quality authentic products - your one stop cultural shop for ALL your cultural requirements.

Our Vision Statement

We intend to be within the top five visited online stores for Aboriginal art and art products within Australia and the World boasting an impressive range of quality authentic products - your one stop cultural shop for ALL your cultural requirements.

Core Competencies, Capabilities and Areas of Expertise

  • Accomplished Aboriginal Artist – Michael J Connolly (Munda-gutta Kulliwarri)
  • Supplier of Indigenous art products and corporate gifts – products bought from artists and art collectives around Australia and gifts tailor made to specific requirements
  • Business mentor and advocate – business mentor to Indigenous Business Australia and also informally through the South-East Queensland Indigenous Chamber of Commerce
  • Cultural educator and advisor– travelled throughout Australia sharing love of culture and provides advice to government, corporate, mining and industry
  • Performer, story-teller and spiritualist – plays the didgeridoo, teller of stories and is a spiritual & personal reader

Key Differentiators

  • Indigenous owned and managed – minority owned family business
  • Authentic Indigenous products – products made by Indigenous Artists themselves or reproduced/manufactured under strict License Agreements with proper royalty-paid Aboriginal Artists by ethical Companies
  • National and International scope – ability to provide products across Australia and the world through company’s online store promptly and efficiently thereby providing the best possible service to customers

Past Performance

  • Travelled throughout the world providing cultural awareness and playing the didgeridoo e.g. Brunei, India, Malta, Singapore, Switzerland and China
  • Performed for dignitaries and at events including High Commissioner in Brunei, Worldwide Aussie Convention, Prime Minister of Ireland, Maltese National Orchestra in Malta, Mumbai International Film Festival in Calcutta, Discovery Channel in Singapore, St Gallen Tourism Expo in Switzerland, Australia Day Ceremonies in China
  • Cultural heritage and awareness teacher locally within the South-East Queensland community and also across Australia
  • Development of the first Aboriginal Australia number plates in Queensland and Victoria
  • Active member within his traditional country of Kullilli & Muruwari

Our People

Michael

Michael Connolly

(Creative Director)

genetically Haplogroup M42a maternal lineage (pure Australian Aboriginal), artist in residence, day to day running of the business, community liaison, cultural advisor and consultant.

Jo

Jo Connolly

(Business Administrator)

Responsible for the accounts, invoicing, retailing dispatch, customer relations and marketing

Tracey

Office Manager

Courtney

Social Media

Taylar-Jo

Personal Assistant

Aboriginal DNA

Australian Aboriginal maternal lineages are very old with minimum ages of approximately between 35,000 to 50,000 years. Most lineages are unique to Australia and not found anywhere else in the world. This confirms that Aboriginal people are the oldest continuous culture outside Africa.

Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, 1 December 2016; doi:10.1038/jhg.2016.147 download this publication here

Mitochondrial DNA diversity of present-day Aboriginal Australians and implications for human evolution in Oceania

Aboriginal Australians are one of the more poorly studied populations from the standpoint of human evolution and genetic diversity. Thus, to investigate their genetic diversity, the possible date of their ancestors’ arrival and their relationships with neighboring populations, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity in a large sample of Aboriginal Australians.

Selected mtDNA single-nucleotide polymorphisms and the hypervariable segment haplotypes were analyzed in 594 Aboriginal Australians drawn from locations across the continent, chiefly from regions not previously sampled. Most (~78%) samples could be assigned to mtDNA haplogroups indigenous to Australia. The indigenous haplogroups were all ancient (with estimated ages 440 000 years) and geographically widespread across the continent. The most common haplogroup was P (44%) followed by S (23%) and M42a (9%). There was some geographic structure at the haplotype level. The estimated ages of the indigenous haplogroups range from 39 000 to 55 000 years, dates that fit well with the estimated date of colonization of Australia based on archeological evidence (~47 000 years ago).

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Why is Dreamtime Kullilla-ArtMichael's BiographyCapability StatementAboriginal DNA

 

DREAMTIME KULLILLA ART

Celebrating 25 years of integrity in culture

 

Authentic products * Honest pricing * Genuine service

 

We are passionate about our product and our brand and trust you will become too.
Welcome to Dreamtime Kullilla-Art!

 

 

Come walk with us and appreciate all we have to offer in The One Stop Cultural Shop.

Learn and appreciate Aboriginal culture from the First Peoples of this Land.

Watch as Aboriginal Artist, Michael Connolly (Munda-gutta Kulliwari) produces a range of beautiful artworks on canvas, didgeridoos, bark and other various items.

Dreamtime Kullilla-Art has grown from a humble stall travelling between markets around SE Queensland and Internationally to the professional cultural business we are today. Specialising in authentic Aboriginal Art & Craft and Bush Tucker Products, Dreamtime Kullilla-Art delivers locally from our retail premises on the Redcliffe Peninsula and to the rest of the world via our online shop.