Welcome

Welcome to The Dunghutti-Ngaku Aboriginal Art Gallery. DNAAG is an Aboriginal Gallery housed in the annex of the Visitor Information Centre designed by internationally renowned architect Glen Murcutt. The gallery is nestled in parkland on the south side of Kempsey in the Macleay Valley on the mid north coast of New South Wales.

The aim of the gallery is to showcase and market works of our prominent established and emerging aboriginal artists of the Dunghutti nation. The Gallery also provides an opportunity to link Indigenous business development with Indigenous culture.

View our unique collection of works by browsing the gallery artists.

Our Gallery is proudly managed and funded by Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical Service.

latest News:

New website!!

After months of preperation we have finaly been able to launch our fantastic new website. With this great new asset we can now sell our incredible range of work online to the world!! Please feel free to browse our site and learn more about our artists. We also look forward to seeing you in the gallery sometime in the near future.

If you need any assistance, help or advice on our art please contact our gallery direct on 02 6562 1432.

Emu Family & Emu Man by Milton
Emu Family & Emu Man

Latest Work

Featured Artist: Milton Budge


Milton Budge, Thunggutti painter, was born on the 10th May, 1941 at Burnt Bridge Mission, Kempsey, NSW. He spent his early years on the Mission before being removed at the age of 13 by the Aborigines Welfare Board to nearby Kinchela Boys Home where he spent the rest of his childhood.

After completing his High School Leaving Certificate at Kinchela, Budge was taken by the same Aborigines Welfare Board to Glebe to have an IQ test at the newly formed Tranby Aboriginal College. The test concluded that he was bright enough to become an accountant, however this vocation was not accessible to Aboriginal people at that time. Instead Budge undertook an apprenticeship in auto-mechanics at Willoughby on Sydney’s north shore and did his study at Ultimo Technical College. This work paid 5 pounds and 5 shillings per week, which after rent, travel and food expenses left Budge with only five shillings. He lasted 12 months working under these tight financial conditions before gaining new employment as a Telegram Delivery Boy for the Kings Cross Post Office in Williams Street, Kings Cross. This job too, only lasted 12 months as the lure of home and country was too strong and so he returned to Burnt Bridge Mission in 1960 where he undertook casual seasonal labour working on local farms.

Budge maintained an interest in art that began in childhood and painted landscapes in oils. In 1987 Budge began painting and said of his intention at that time that he “wanted to incorporate European and Aboriginal styles together – to combine the two”. In 1989 he was a founding member of the Kempsey Koori Artists along with David Fernando, Mary Duroux, Raymond Paul Button, Sharon Elaine Smith and his cousin Robert Campbell Jnr.

Budge was commissioned to create two murals in the Kempsey region. The first commission in 1987 was for the Booroongen-Djugun Aboriginal Corporation’s Aged Care Facility (with Sharon Smith) at Kempsey and the second mural in 1989, was painted onto the Water Towers at Crescent Head. The Kempsey Koori Artists group disbanded in 1992. Budge works with synthetic polymer on canvas and his paintings depict Dreaming Stories told to him by his grandmother, memories of life on Burnt Bridge Mission or cultural memories of Aboriginal life before the European arrival. His paintings are created using soft pastel colours that at times seem at odds with the content of his work in particular his Mission paintings, which often depict the sad, cruel and strict regime of a life lived on a New South Wales Aboriginal mission mid 20th century.