Animals play a significant part in Indigenous culture, whether it is a totemic relationship, and part of a dreaming, or as food. Appearing in the artwork of many Aboriginal artist, it’s place goes beyond the physicality of bush tucker, being depicted in a number of dreamtime and other stories, such as ‘Goanna Dreaming’. There is another story that is described by the aboriginal artist Trephina Sultan Thanguwa in her work ‘Goanna Calling for Rain’:

The ‘Old People’ say when you see a goanna climbing up a tree or old log, it is calling for rain, to bring life back to the land, calling to the spirits who may be willing to listen and send rain.

In the depiction of the Goanna, many artist stamp their own unique way of portraying the animal, whether it is just showing the tracks left by the animal or as the flattened outline or three dimensional form. The ‘Ngintaka’ goanna often also appearing in animal carvings.

In Aboriginal art, there is a difference between the Goanna and the Perentie, as depicted in the ‘How the Perentie and Goanna got their Colours’.