(b W. Arnhem Land, N. Territory, 1926). Australian Aboriginal painter. His father painted on rock surfaces in the region of the upper reaches of the Liverpool River, and as a youth Nabarrayal was trained to paint at a number of caves in this area. His bark paintings, like those of Dick Ngulayngulay, have strong affinities to the rock art of Western Arnhem Land. For many years researchers had visited Oenpelli, one of the two major towns in the region, to collect art, and the production of art and craft had become a major community occupation during the 1960s. It was then that Nabarrayal began painting works for sale while he was living at the Oenpelli Mission, using as his materials natural ochres on sheets of the bark of the Eucalyptus tetradonta tree. Such works as Animals Feeding (c. 1975; Canberra, N. Mus.) are characterized by the exquisite detail given to features of his animal figures. Animals and mimi spirits are common subjects, but Nabarrayal became well known for painting images of Ngalyod or Yingarna, the original creator being of Western Arnhem Land’s religion. In a work such as Ngalyod the Rainbow Serpent (Darwin, N. Territ. Mus. A. & Sci.) he painted a fantastic body form that includes the features of many species, expressing the way this being is conceived as a ‘mother’ of all species and of humans. Sections of the figure are infilled with parallel-line hatching, invariably in red ochre.