11 National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.
12 A yam.
13 Pigeon House Mountain.
14 Association of Northern and Central Australian Aboriginal Artists, the advocacy body that later became the Association of Northern and Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists (ANKAAA).
15 The Paris conference was called Indigenous Identities: Oral, Written Expressions and New Technologies. Jimmy was invited by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to launch the CD-ROM Dream Trackers: Yapa art and knowledge of the Australian desert, compiled by the French anthropologist Barbara Glowczewski. The CD-ROM project started in 1995 and included more than 50 artists.
16 The performance featured Morteza Esmaili on didgeridoo and the Yawuru composer, singer and musician Wayne Jowandi Barker. They invited Jimmy to sing with them before the other world musicians joined them on stage.
17 Medicine man and sorcerer.
BOOK 2
1 R. Layton, Australian Rock Art: A New Synthesis.
2 Story related in B. Glowczewski, Rêves en Colère, pp. 151–3.
3 From the inscription that surrounds his resting place on Bainbridge Island.
4 R. Lawlor, ‘Conversations with Willy Whitefeather, Native American Teacher and Healer’, Voices of the First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime, pp. 40–1.
5 This was observed and recorded by two of Dame Mary Gilmore’s uncles.
6 Fraser Island, Queensland.
7 Ian Dunlop, internationally renowned ethnographic filmmaker.
8 Sea slug, otherwise known as bêche-de-mer, a prized food thought to have the properties of an aphrodisiac.
9 A.C. Haddon (ed.), Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, 6 vols, Cambridge, 1901–35.
10 Also known as Mrs G.H. Poole.
11 A. Sayers, Aboriginal Artists of the Nineteenth Century, p. 48.
12 L. Onus, ‘Southwest, Southeast Australia and Tasmania’, in B. Lüthi and G. Lee (eds), Aratjara: Art of the First Australians, p. 289.
13 A. Sayers, Aboriginal Artists of the Nineteenth Century, pp. 20, 22.
14 G. Walker, The Aboriginal Photographs of Baldwin Spencer.
15 D.J. Mulvaney, Australian Dictionary of Biography
16 Tjuringa or churinga, ceremonial objects deemed sacred by the clans of the Western Desert.
17 Pukumani, meaning the condition or state of being taboo. It applies specifically to funeral ceremonies.
18 While Lorrkon and Dupun are the most commonly used terms to describe mortuary poles and the associated ceremony, other names according to language are Djalumbu, Badurru, Mudukundja, Mululu and Larajeje.
19 Tri-masted boats that travelled from presentday Indonesia to the north of Australia on the northwest monsoon winds, and returned on the southeast trade winds.
20 Sea cucumbers, variously referred to as trepang, bêche-de-mer or balate.
21 Charlie blew off his right arm experimenting with a homemade rocket in a friend’s backyard when 16 years old. The didjeribone is like a trombone in that one length of plastic tubing slides inside another, alternating the pitch.
BOOK 3
1 R. Manne, ‘Pearson’s Gamble, Stanner’s Dream: The Past and Future of Remote Australia’, The Monthly, August 2007, p. 30.
2 Ibid., p. 34.
3 The Methodists founded missions on Goulburn Island (1916), Milingimbi (1923), Yirrkala (1935), Croker Island (1941) and Elcho Island (1942), while the Church Missionary Society established others at Roper River (1908), Groote Eylandt (1921), Oenpelli (1925), Rose River (1952) and Umbakumba (1958). The Roman Catholic Church set up its own missions on Bathurst Island (1911), Melville Island (1941), Port Keats (1935) and Daly River (1954).
4 He spoke on the subject during the following year at the conference of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science.
5 K. Dowdy, A Vagabond and His Easel: A Biography of John Gardner, p. 42.
6 Ibid.
7 A. French, Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902–1959, p. 1.
8 A.A. McKenzie, Albert Namatjira 1902–1959, Famous Australian Art Series, p. 7.
9 J.D. Batty, Namatjira, Wanderer between Two Worlds, pp. 142–3.
10 The Great Australian Art Exhibition 1788–1988 toured all over Australia in 1989.
11 Meetings were held with officials at the Smithsonian, the National Geographic Society, the American Museum of Natural History in New York and other institutions that supported anthropological research, as related in D. Chapman and S. Russell, ‘The Responsibilities of Leadership: The Records of Charles P. Mountford’ in M. Thomas and M. Neale (eds), Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, p. 1.
12 M. Thomas, ‘Expedition as Time Capsule’, in M. Thomas and M. Neale (eds), Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, p. 254.
13 A.P. Elkin, R. and C. Berndt, Art in Arnhem Land, p. 1.
14 R. Berndt, Australian Aboriginal Art, pp. 73–4.
15 K. Goon, ‘Dorothy Bennett: A Dreaming’, Northern Perspective, vol. 19, no. 1, 1996.
16 H. Perkins, ‘A Privileged Moment: Retracing Tony Tuckson’s pioneering journey north’, Arts and Australia, Issue 188, Spring 2009
17 M. Dryer, ‘Secretary in the Stone Age’, New Idea, 21 November 1961
18 As explained in Chapter 1, this was a classificatory relationship, not a sexual one.
19 R. Berndt, Australian Aboriginal Art: An Exhibition Arranged by the State Art Galleries of Australia, 1960–1961, p. 10.
20 Ibid., p. 10.
21 Personal letter dated 22 March 1962 provided to Kay Goon by Diana Renfrew (cited in Northern Perspective, vol. 19, no. 1, 1996).
22 Unpublished notes for Bennett’s autobiography.
23 The magazine was owned by News Ltd, which also owned the NT News.
24 Royal Australian Air Force.
25 According to Russell White, who helped catalogue his collection in 1970.
26 S. Le Brun Holmes, The Goddess and the Moon Man: The Sacred Art of the Tiwi Aborigines, p. 65.
27 Amongst the many other great exponents of this art form were Bobby and Peter Nganjmirra, Mick Magani, Bob Bilinyara, Binyinyuwuy, Dawidi, Lipundja, Nym Manalpuy, Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek, Namerredje Guymala, Curly Bardkadubbu, Mick Kubarrkku, Jimmy Midjawmidjaw, David Milaybuma, Dick Nguleingulei (Ngungali Ngungali) Murrumurru, January Namiridali Nangunyari, Anchor Wurrkidj and Paddy Compass Namatbara.
28 J. Ryan, Spirit in Land, p. 77.
29 S. Le Brun Holmes, Yirawala, Painter of the Dreaming, p. 1.
30 L. Taylor, ‘Fire in the Water: Inspiration from Country,’ in Crossing Country: The Alchemy of Western Arnhem Land Art, p. 123.
31 ‘Rio Tinto Alcan probed over industrial spill’, ABC News, 22 April 2010.
32 The Aboriginal Benefits Foundation (ABF) supports projects for the benefit and welfare of Aboriginal communities throughout Australia, and the members of those communities. It has a particular focus on supporting art, health and cultural projects with a connection to Aboriginal art and/or artists, which are undertaken to assist the youth, the aged and those who suffer from infirmity, disability, poverty or other disadvantageous social or economic circumstances. You can help by contacting the ABF at www.aboriginal.org.au
33 Important collections were also assembled by Tony Tuckson, Dr Stuart Scougall, Karel Kupka, Louis Allen, Professor Ed Ruhe, Jim Davidson and Dorothy Bennett.
34 Balanda is the word used for Westerners, white people or outsiders in Arnhem Land.
35 V. Johnson, ‘Is there a gender issue in Aboriginal art?’, Art and Australia, pp. 350–7.
36 J. Ryan, Spirit in Land, p. 26.
37 H. Morphy, ‘Life Through Art: Religion and Society in Eastern Arnhem Land’, in H Morphy and M Smith Boles (eds), Art from the Land: Dialogues with the Kluge–Ruhe Collection of Australian Aboriginal Art,
pp. 58–83.
38 J. Ryan, Spirit in Land, p. 24.
39 V. Johnson, ‘Getting Over Terra Nullius’, paper presented at the Australian Registrars Committee Conference, Unveiling Secrets and Lies: Authenticity and Ownership of Museum Collections, Melbourne, 8–9 October, 2001.
40 J. Isaacs, Wandjuk Marika, Life Story, pp. 142–7.
41 Ibid., pp. 117-25.
42 Meaning, literally, ‘the coming of the Light’.
43 The formal relish, or performance, required according to Maori protocol following the speech of an important official.
44 Murri is the generic term for Aboriginal people from Queensland.
45 A number of pieces are held in the collections of the South Australian Museum and the National Museum of Australia.
46 P. Sutton, ‘Sacred Images and Political Engagements in Story Place’, Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest, p. 59.
47 As at October 2011.
48 Record of interview with Jennifer Isaacs.
49 These included the Hogarth Galleries in Sydney, Chapman Gallery in Canberra, and Gabrielle Pizzi and William Mora Gallery in Melbourne. Important survey shows were held at Manly Regional Gallery in Sydney and Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Adelaide.
50 Message Stick, ABC–TV, 5 November 2004.
51 G. Grey, Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia.
52 D.W. McLeod, How the West was Lost: The Native Question in the Development of Western Australia.
53 Dr J. Richardson, The Age, Melbourne, 21 April 1999.
54 It is worth noting that while Wandjina images have been reproduced since the 1960s on a variety of mediums, relatively few of the highly distinctive, and mysterious Gwion Gwion, or Bradshaw art, found in the same region, have been painted by contemporary artists. When they have appeared on barks by Kalumburu and Mowanjum artists they have been crude in comparison to the rock art. This has led to speculation that these images are not actually ‘owned’ by any of the currently existing clans, and possibly predate them by many thousands of years.
55 K. Flynn, ‘Biographical Notes on John McCaffrey’, Sotheby’s Catalogue, Sydney, July 2003.
56 Entry in Sotheby’s Catalogue, November 1997.
BOOK 4
1 After the 1967 referendum, which gave the Commonwealth Parliament power to legislate specifically for Aboriginal people, Coombs became chairman of the Australian Council for Aboriginal Affairs. He largely wrote Labor’s policy on Aboriginal land rights and in 1972 he was named Australian of the Year.
2 Coombs believed that large strategic national bodies could bolster Aboriginal theatre, arts and music. This led, for instance, to the establishment of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association in 1975 to train Indigenous Australians in dance; and support for large festivals and music programs.
3 R. Manne, ‘Pearson’s Gamble, Stanner’s Dream, The Past and Future of Remote Australia’, The Monthly, August 2007, pp. 30–4.
4 P. Hasluck, Shades of Darkness: Aboriginal Affairs 1925–1965.
5 Harris, Kerr, Forster and Company, Australia’s Travel and Tourist Industry, report commissioned by the Australian National Travel Association, 1965.
6 As recorded in J. Altman, C. McGuigan and P. Yu, The Aboriginal Arts and Crafts Industry, report of the Review Committee, Department of Aboriginal Affairs, July 1989, pp. 32–7.
7 Ibid., quoting Mackay, 1973.
8 Aboriginal Arts and Crafts Pty Ltd also operated under the name Trecker, Inada Holdings and Aboriginal Arts Australia at times throughout its 16-year history. Throughout the period it became euphemistically known as ‘The Company’.
9 The language group name for the Aboriginal people of Darwin.
10 F. Myers, Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, pp. 132, 150.
11 V. Johnson, Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, p. 19.
12 G. Bardon, Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert, p. 37.
13 Ibid., p. 21.
14 Ibid., p. 21.
15 V. Johnson in S. Kleinert and M. Neale (eds), Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, p. 213.
16 Later to become the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT).
17 A Honey Ant Dreaming site, it is shared equally by all groups in the Western Desert.
18 V. Johnson, Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, p. 13.
19 G. and J. Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story, p. 89.
20 T. Lock-Weir, ‘Clifford Possum, the Divine Navigator’, Art and Australia, vol. 40, no. 4, June– August 2003.
21 According to Jennifer Isaacs.
22 V. Johnson, Once Upon a Time in Papunya, University of New South Wales Press, p. 101.
23 D. Kimber, art adviser in Papunya (1976–1978), quoted in F. Myers, Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, p. 65.
24 Later Janet Holt.
25 Throughout the 1970s, Peter Fannin (1972– 1975), Janet Wilson (1976 –1977), Dick Kimber (1976–1978) and John Kean (1977–1979) acted as art advisers and ran the art centre.
26 F. Myers, Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, p. 142.
27 A. Wallis, as quoted in N. Berrell, ‘Inroads offshore: The international exhibition program of the Aboriginal Arts Board, 1973–1980’, ReCollections, Journal of the National Museum of Australia, vol. 4, No. 1, April 2009, p. 19.
28 J. Isaacs, quoted in N. Berrell, ibid., p. 17.
29 Bob Edwards to Susan McCulloch, as quoted in N. Berrell, ibid., p.18.
30 Ibid., p. 22.
31 V. Johnson in S. Kleinert and M. Neale (eds), Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, p. 668.
32 Brokensha was the author of the catalogue The Pitjantjatjara and their Crafts, published by Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, 1975.
33 J. Isaacs, ‘The Public Face of Aboriginal Art in the 70s and the 80s’, Art Monthly Australia, vol. 56, 1992, p. 24.
34 In the mid to late 1970s Peter Cooke and Dan Gillespie serviced artists belonging to a number of different language groups at the 30 outstations surrounding the art centre at Maningrida. By 1978, Ranald Allan acted as the art coordinator in Galiwinku (Elcho Island). Others who worked in the Top End between the 1970s and 1980s were Jon Altman, now the Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University, and the anthropologist and author Luke Taylor, who was undertaking his PhD at the time. After the art centre’s establishment at Yirrkala in 1975, Mike O’Ferrall, later to become the curator of Aboriginal art at the Western Australian Art Gallery, acted as art coordinator. He was replaced in 1979 by artist and printmaker Steve Fox, who remained in Yirrkala throughout the 1980s. Peter Yates ran Bula Bula Arts from 1977 to 1980 following its establishment to service the eight surrounding outstations at the mouth of the Glyde River. After leaving Arnhem Land, first Yates and then Fox became responsible for the development of Maruku Arts and Crafts at Uluru. From 1976 to 1977 Ian Furguson ran an art centre at Milingimbi until replaced by John (later Djon) Mundine, who entered Arnhem Land in 1979. Dorothy Bennett, who had commissioned the first huge barks from Yirrkala as early as the late 1950s, collected and sold work from Oenpelli for The Company from 1978 onward. More than a decade before there was an official art centre at Oenpelli, Peter Carroll organised an exhibition from Western Arnhem Land, including works by Yirawala and Bobby and Peter Nganjmirra at the Australian Museum as a reaction against uranium mining in the region. In 1979, Mimi Arts and Crafts began promoting work from Southern Arnhem Land artists who lived in Katherine, Beswick and Barunga, including David Blanasi and Paddy Fordham Wainburranga, both of whom achieved great notoriety, most especially amongst overseas collectors.
35 F. Myers, Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, p. 138.
36 It is worthy of note that the term ‘craft adviser’ was always used rather than ‘art adviser’ at this time. However, the need to maximise income was influ
encing the movement toward ‘fine art’. This would lead to the flow-on effect of diminishing the variety of material culture. Within a decade the majority of advisers were forced by economic pressures to promote fine art in preference to craft.
37 Directed by British filmmaker Nicolas Roeg in 1971.
38 There are varying opinions on the date when Rover Thomas began to paint. Kim Akerman believed he first painted in 1982, but field notes in diaries kept by Neil McLeod suggest that Rover Thomas may have painted in 1981, and quite possibly as early as 1979 with assistance from Paddy Jaminji.
39 First-hand account as related during interview between Rimus Riauba and the author.
40 No relation to Don McLeod.
41 Dated diary entry.
BOOK 5
1 Murphy eventually served as the Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, from 1984 until 2008.
2 B. Murphy (ed.), The Native Born: Objects and Representations from Ramingining, Arnhem Land, p. 22.
3 From the early 1980s onward the title ‘art adviser’ began to be considered a more appropriate title for those working in positions such as this.
4 F. Myers, Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, p. 194.
5 R.G. Kimber, ‘Recollections of Papunya Tula 1971–1980’, in H. Perkins and H. Fink (eds), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, p. 208.
6 G. and J. Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made after the Story, p. 69.
7 F. Myers, Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, p. 78.
8 Published by IAD Press, 2008.
9 Also known as ‘Anatjari No. 3’ and ‘Anatjari No. III’.
10 R.G. Kimber, in H. Perkins and H. Fink (eds), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, p. 215.
11 H. Perkins and H. Fink (eds), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, 2000, p. 227.
12 D. Mundine, ‘Tribute’, Art and Australia, vol. 35, no. 3, 1998.
13 F. Myers, Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, p. 304.
14 Taken from collector’s essay published in the Sotheby’s October 1983 sale catalogue.
15 The approximate reserve was obtained from Robert Bleakley, taped interview with Shireen Huda, Canberra, 28 November 2002, as reported in S. Huda, Pedigree and Panache: A History of the Art Auction in Australia.
The Dealer is the Devil Page 56