The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
In 2021, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Timor Leste-based LO’UD Cooperative to produce traditional Timorese tais (woven cloth) for the collection. LO’UD are a collective of three groups of women weavers from the Iliomar region in south-east Timor Leste. They established their cooperative in 2003 following Timor Leste’s UN sanctioned vote for independence in 1999, in which the tiny nation voted overwhelmingly to end Indonesia’s violent occupation of their country.
LO’UD was formed by former resistance fighters who were directly involved in resistance activities against Indonesian authorities. Founder and Director Balbina da Conceição (nom de guerre ‘Waru Lahaluha’) was part of a three-women clandestine cell delivering vital information and supplies to members of the armed resistance in the jungle. Other women witnessed their husbands being tortured or killed, endured human rights abuses and suffered significant hardship over many years.
Marcelina Pinto, a leader in the LO’UD Cooperative who lived through Indonesian occupation, described how tais continued to be made throughout the period of occupation, despite violent oppression.
“During the time of the resistance, we suffered because the Indonesian military came and assaulted us and shot at us, but we continued to carry out the work of our organisation until independence. During the time of the occupation, I was young, eight years old, but I learned how to weave tais from the hard work of our mothers. Our mothers worked tais and we had to help spinning and winding the thread so that we could learn through their work and craftmanship.”1
Pinto’s statement underscores the centrality of tais to Timor Leste’s vibrant culture. In 2021 tais were inscribed in on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Debra Salvagno, President of East Timor Women Australia, the non-government organisation who delivered the commission in partnership with LO’UD, described their significance.
“Although considered the poorest nation in Asia, Timor Leste’s riches lie in community and culture. Tais are the most enduring cultural art form [in] Timor Leste … bringing generations of women together, reflecting the strong sense of community still alive … despite decades of violence, oppression and extreme poverty. Tais share an important link with the nation’s journey of independence and symbolise the resilience [of] its people.”2
During Indonesian occupation, overt displays of Timorese culture were often banned, so the weaving and wearing of tais was an act of defiance that bolstered unity amongst the population. The ability to weave also had practical benefits when resources were scarce. When her family fled to a jungle hamlet in 1980 to escape violence, Pinto described her daily activities as “weaving mats, bags, and helping with security.”3
In 1999, when Australian Army interpreter Ben Farinazzo supported a Timorese woman to give birth in a burnout classroom during a thunderstorm – after she’d been in hiding for a month and surviving on boiled tree roots – the mother’s gift to the young officer was a tais; a symbol of unity.
The unique value of tais lies in their cultural significance as objects that are gifted or exchanged in ceremonies, and their role communicating community values and environmental knowledge, rather than material objects to be sold for financial gain. According to Salvagno, “Even though the designs and quality of Tais woven for culture or market may be the same, the intended purpose designates their ultimate value.” 4
In this instance, the tais commissioned by the Memorial were part of a symbolic exchange between the two nations. The Memorial, in collecting material to fill new galleries (completed in 2026) about Australian peacekeeping operations in Timor Leste from 1999–2013, commissioned LO’UD to produce tais that could share stories about women’s experiences of the vote for independence, and highlight their contributions to Timor Leste’s peace and security, which were supported by Australian peacekeepers.
The four commissioned tais were designed by thirty members of LO’UD from three generations during a two-day workshop in January 2022. They chose four themes: ‘The past’, ‘Your culture’, ‘Your contribution’ and ‘Your future’. Ilda da Cruz, on behalf of the LO’UD Cooperative said “[The tais] represent the struggles of our sisters, aunties, mothers and grandmothers across Timor Leste; the brave women who fought for our cultural identity during the resistance, worked hard to build peace and reconciliation in our independent nation and continue the struggle to preserve our culture today.” 5
The women chose to make tais worn by women in fetosa’an umane wedding ceremonies held in Iliomar. These ceremonies strengthen communities by establishing kinship relationships, unity and reciprocity between family groups. Tais worn by the bride represent women’s roles and proficiency in Timorese society. They hold symbols related to the responsibilities, knowledge and identity of both the bride, and the family she is joining in marriage. These symbols are passed down from ancestors who provide spiritual protection to the weavers across time.
Tais are labour intensive and produced collectively, with women playing different roles such as spinning cotton, making natural dyes, binding threads and preparing looms. While the labour is shared by intergeneration groups of women and girls, only ‘soru ho liman ida’ ‘one set of hands’ are used to weave the work to ensure consistent tension.
Environmental knowledge is also embedded in tais through natural dyes and symbols related to the Timorese natural world. Dyes are made using plants gathered from remote locations and sometimes take months to produce the intense colour required for a traditional tais. Sabina dos Santos explained,
“For us in Timor-Leste, colours are traditional ... We use different roots, barks and leaves which can produce various colours, such as green using wild bitter beans; for black we use the leaves of the Indigofera plant; for the orange we use the kuimeita plant; for yellow we use turmeric; for the pink we also use the turmeric root. These are the traditional colours, linked to the four traditional tais which represent the women of Timor Leste. For this project we used Indigofera leaves for the black, turmeric and sak tree for the brown. These colours use the bark and roots of the trees, and this is what we call traditional tais. If the bark and the roots are not used for the colours, then it is not called a Timor Leste traditional tais.” 6
This tais nunukala was prepared by the Lospalos, Lautem weaving group – called ‘Feto kiak buka moris’, which translates as ‘Poor women seeking life’ group – lead by Marcelina Pinto. The group used cotton hand-dyed by master dyer Olinda Madeira and the piece was woven by Olympia da Cruz.
Nunukala is the first of three tais that the aunts and sisters from the bride and groom’s family place on the bride. The tais nunukala includes a pattern of diamonds surrounded by curved lines. These are a symbol of the ‘kawaili’ (native gecko) that lives in harmony with families in Timor Leste and represents a channel of communication between the ‘feto san umane’ (relatives by marriage). The ‘alaniuhk’ symbol of a diamond surrounded by straight, outward-facing lines represents thorny plants connecting the tais with the land and represent the groom’s family obligation to protect the bride. The LO’UD women also interpret this as a symbol of their traditional dying methods. ‘Puilouk’ symbols of curved white lines around a small red dot on a black background symbolises the dancing and drumming, and the bride’s knowledge of cultural practice.
The three other tais in the commissioned suite are similarly related to ‘fetosa’an umane’ wedding ceremonies. Together, they form a unified narrative that the Cooperative described as “part of an all-encompassing connection between art, culture, life, memory and experience” in Timor Leste. 7
Past and present members of LO’UD Cooperative include:
Juvina Barros (Lospalos group, Rural Programs Coordinator)
Balbina da Conceiçã (nom de guerre ‘Waru Lahaluha’) (Master weaver, Founder and Director)
Justina da Costa (Secretary, Caenlio Village group)
Filomena da Cruz (Caenlio Village group, Master weaver)
Ilda da Cruz (Lospalos group, Coordinator)
Julieta da Cruz (Leader, Caenlio Village group)
Olympia da Cruz (Lospalos group, Master weaver)
Lizia Esmerelda (Lospalos group)
Amelia Fernandes (Fuat Village group, Finance and Administration Manager)
Melina da Gama (Lospalos group)
Avina Jeronimo (Treasurer, Caenlio Village group)
Julimeria Jeronimo (Lospalos group)
Cristina Lourdes (Secretary, Fuat Village group)
Angelina Madeira (Lospalos group, Master weaver)
Olinda Madeira (Lospalos group, Master dyer)
Viana Pereira (Master weaver, Founder, Caenlio Village group)
Marcelina Pinto (dec.) (nom de guerre ‘Bui Ma’a’) (Founding leader, Fuat Village group)
Marcelina Pinto (Leader, Lospalos group)
Sabina dos Santos (Leader, Fuat Village group, Master weaver)
Vitoria Sarmentu (Lospalos group)
Tia (Elder weaver)
Olinda Ximenes (Caenlio Village group)
Endnotes
1. Debra Salvagno, Tais Details: Report for the Australian War Memorial, November 2023, p.11
2. Ibid., p. 3
3. Ibid., p. 11
4. Ibid., p. 3
5. Ibid., p. 5
6. Ibid., p. 14
7. Ibid., p. 12
In 2021, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Timor Leste-based LO’UD Cooperative to produce traditional Timorese tais (woven cloth) for the collection. LO’UD are a collective of three groups of w
In 2021, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Timor Leste-based LO’UD Cooperative to produce traditional Timorese tais (woven cloth) for the collection. LO’UD are a collective of three groups of w
In 2021, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Timor Leste-based LO’UD Cooperative to produce traditional Timorese tais (woven cloth) for the collection. LO’UD are a collective of three groups of w
In 2021, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Timor Leste-based LO’UD Cooperative to produce traditional Timorese tais (woven cloth) for the collection. LO’UD are a collective of three groups of w
In 2021, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Timor Leste-based LO’UD Cooperative to produce traditional Timorese tais (woven cloth) for the collection. LO’UD are a collective of three groups of w
In 2021, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Timor Leste-based LO’UD Cooperative to produce traditional Timorese tais (woven cloth) for the collection. LO’UD are a collective of three groups of w
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