Brooch

One of the spoils from the trip to Toowoomba.
We visited the museum showing Art in Bark. Art in Bark is type of art unique to Australia. It is believed that early settlers over 120 years ago first created rough, but cleverly constructed pictures from natural resources. There is special type of tree that sheds its top coat. Two or three layers can be taken without harm to the tree from which it can be made natural colors of grey, white, gold, brown, red and black after bush fires.
Additional resources are used to develop more colors: like fungi, mosses, lichens, banana trash.
Above picture (made into the brooch)was created from those ingredients; no artificial colors were used or needed.
Art in Bark is different than "aboriginal art bark" which is the painting with pigments of large pieces of solid bark. Australian Aborigines have been portraying their "Dream Time" stories for centuries in this matter, with primitive and intricate designs.