Current issue,  Podcasts,  NewslettersOn a Missionby Peter Sutton Arts and LettersJohn Strehlow’s 'The Tale of Frieda Keysser' At the 2008 conference of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth in Keele brought the house down with one such joke during her keynote address In the coffee queue afterwards I asked her how many people’s lives she thought had been saved by missionaries in the colonies and later During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Christian missionaries and the missions they ran were among the most significant points of sustained contact between indigenous Australians and others In scores of places they were the primary structure of the new economics; most operated as farms and stock stations not just preaching and schooling platforms Other points of interaction included the secular pastoral stations the ocean-going boats of the maritime trades and especially in the more remote parts of the country the missions played a powerfully ambivalent role in the histories of their inmates and their descendants The missions were places of protection that suppressed violence between the indigenous inhabitants and gave sanctuary against the murderous raids of pastoralists and troopers and offered a more or less reliable food supply of relative immobility and of official opposition to various ‘heathen practices’ reduced infant mortality and halted the spread of infections such as syphilis where they could but as in the devastating arrival of measles in the Hermannsburg area of Central Australia in 1899 mission residents sometimes suffered higher rates of infection during epidemics than their relatives in the bush The missions also co-opted and displaced the ancient male gerontocracy Few missions in Australia have survived in their old form since the self-determination policies of the 1970s replaced their administrations with locally elected councils the missionaries and their families often stayed for decades or even generations In many cases the missionaries not only learned a local language but encouraged literacy in that language I’ve recorded 15 such missions in the nineteenth century alone and 22 in the twentieth – and I’m still counting Often the children of mission staff grew up speaking reading and writing the local lingua franca While staff and residents also had lives hidden from each other Today very few former missions have any non-local staff or children who can speak a local language and few such staff stay beyond a few years or months Their lives and those of the local indigenous people are often far more separate than they were 50 or 100 years ago Relationships between black and white in today’s communities are more often monetarised and functional Many remote settlement staff now retreat for the night behind locked gates where they keep large dogs an older integration has moved to segregation The missions are critical to understanding the founding dramaturgy of Aboriginal–settler relationships and its long and twisting knowledge of the missions might have come via a background chapter by an anthropologist who has worked in such a place or via some retired missionary’s rather sunny account one easily dismissed prima facie by secular sophisticates in media commentary and in the speech of indigenous politics flat-earth assessments of the mission stations abound: they were extensions of colonialist power and their main aim was conversion; missionaries extinguished indigenous languages by banning their use in schools and dormitories; missionaries committed cultural genocide part empirically gutless pastiche can only succeed on the basis of well-sourced factual detail Yet the majority of sources are scattered through thousands of shelf metres of archival papers sometimes in languages other than English and written in a pre-modern script so the corrective business faces a long and toilsome path author of The Tale of Frieda Keysser: Frieda Keysser and Carl Strehlow a new tome of almost 1200 pages about his own Lutheran missionary antecedents in Central Australia His research has so far taken him to more than 50 archives in the UK varied and detailed picture emerging from unpublished or newly translated sources is fast making the post-1960s bourgeois intellectual dogma of dismissiveness towards the missionaries look like the creation of naïfs The Tale of Frieda Keysser is one part of this picture full of recognisable and nuanced individuals rather than the cardboard cut-out cowboys and wooden Indians of ideology which rests very much on Frieda’s own diaries as well as many previously untapped published sources in German joins others – including Barry Hill’s Broken Song a major and penetrating biography of Ted Strehlow John’s father – to help paint the epic story of the Strehlows Frieda Keysser was born in Bavaria in 1875 Following her father’s death and her mother’s subsequent remarriage and went to work for a clergyman’s family at 15 to marry the Lutheran missionary Carl Strehlow They began their time together at the abandoned mission station at Hermannsburg in Central Australia Carl had already been working in the desert Lutheran missions since 1892 The pair went on to fight a three-decade battle to save Hermannsburg which had been condemned during an 1894 expedition by the British-born anthropologist who concluded that its resident Aranda people were doomed to extinction is to bring missionary women out of the shadows of their husbands is a significant character in her own right Her work to reduce infant mortality at Hermannsburg was both effective and heroic she raised six children and endured gruelling conditions – summers of 40-plus-degree days Remoteness nowadays is nothing like it was Frieda is also the pathway to an upper-class ancestry which her grandson has proudly exhumed in great detail yielding a short but rich history of Central European life This apparent diversion makes the point that Australian history has to be understood within the context of centuries of European history won’t submit to the Anglification of Australian history The author is angered by Frieda’s disenfranchisement from her rightful wealth when very young John and his siblings were later disinherited by their father Ted and the parallel is hard to ignore The book can be read in part as a defence of the Keysser/Strehlow family’s right to a wrongfully lost or wilfully blocked high standing Frieda’s lost dowry and the calumnies of British-descended anthropologists against her husband are conjoined in goading the grandson’s fury at the lack of respect and honour accorded to his family but based in London for more than 30 years John Strehlow is a theatre director and playwright partial to Shakespeare Professor TGH in the literature – was a famous literary scholar ‘TGH Strehlow’ gets only five index references in The Tale of Frieda Keysser – understandable given the account centres on Frieda and ends when Ted is five – but his spirit is always near Ted spent a great deal of energy redeeming the name of his father John seems to be reliving this part of his father’s history There were various detractors of Carl’s work at Hermannsburg but the main villains in both Ted’s and John’s narratives are the anthropologists Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen They made their names internationally by publishing on the Aranda people (The Native Tribes of Central Australia the same people Carl subsequently concentrated on for his major eight-volume work Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien John Strehlow’s attacks on Spencer and Gillen’s scholarship and ethics are passionate His grandfather had shown their “doomed race” theory to be pseudo-science He describes Spencer as “that political animal” and emphasises Spencer’s dislike of Germans A number of anthropologists have followed in the footsteps of Spencer and Gillen Strehlow gives these latter-day pretenders short shrift but The Tale of Frieda Keysser is like a great tree whose branches are at times almost as long as the trunk Every new character who crosses the track of the author’s narrative is a vamp enticing him to go off into a sub-account that in many cases could stand alone as an historical essay or mini-biography In this way we are treated to a history of ideas and a history of the personal intellectual networks of colonial-era Australia And the visual is not neglected: the book is remarkable for its large and plentiful photographs Strehlow is very decidedly not an academic willing to challenge so-called experts on their own ground He spurns anthropology as an “escapist exercise” and accuses its practitioners of tending to “drown in irrelevant self-importance” Here and there the shadow of the autodidact comes into play Self-published and without the blessing of an editor the book will seem prolix to some and prone to over-long diversions (not to mention typos) But this is part of what makes Strehlow’s writing so clearly his own it is not an exercise in repeating and re-exemplifying the ideas of les philosophes The book concludes with a list of ‘Dramatis Personae’ a rubric borrowed from John’s world of theatre First are “persons of Aranda or Loritja backgrounds” – children of Aboriginal women but white genitors including male staff of the Hermannsburg mission not later; next are listed “persons of German background”; and lastly “persons of British background” These were key ethnic divisions in South and Central Australia in the time of John Strehlow’s parents and grandparents from his own birth in 1946 until his move to London in the 1980s It is a three-cornered tension that permeates the book Outsider ambivalence towards the dominant majority – proud of a distinct heritage but resenting exclusion – is a raw leitmotiv here John Strehlow’s work is of such a factual and emotional scale that he may find it exposes a personal target He speaks to the reader sometimes as an intimate a kind of opulence of space and time and credible personalities that is so often missing from what is written by scholars of the past and of the bush To order The Tale of Frieda Keysser online, contact [email protected] The Monthly is a magazine published by Schwartz Media For subscription enquiries, call 1800 077 514 or email [email protected] For editorial enquiries, email [email protected] the pots created by the Hermannsburg Potters of Western Arrarnta in Central Australia illustrate the lived histories of the artists and their surrounding Country Crafted from terracotta clay and ceramic underglazes each generously rounded vessel is covered with paintings of life in the desert and topped with figurative sculptures of people Featuring work by seven artists including senior Hermannsburg ceramicists Judith Inkamala and Anita Ratara Andrea Rontji and Alizha Panangka Coulthard curator Emma Bett says this new collection of pots follows on from a previous exhibition themed around bush foods to bring the vibrancy of the desert into the gallery space native flora and community life are all depicted in their signature vivid colours “What stands out to me about their work is the way each pot expresses the individual hand of the maker,” Bett explains humour and insights into contemporary life.” Partly inspired by the watercolour landscape paintings of Albert Namatjira the creative traditions of Hermannsburg are maintained by four founding members who continue to mentor new and emerging artists With their focus on visual story telling and skill sharing reiterated in a recent artist statement “We know how to teach our young ones because our old people taught us,” many of the potters are mothers and daughters The culturally significant outcome of passing down skills and knowledge from generation to generation each pot encapsulates the experience of the artist and their strong matriarchal lineage tenderly highlighting the rich diversity of life and community found on Country This article was originally published in the March/April 2025 print edition of Art Guide Australia and how to intersect the past with the present Aboriginal-owned Mimili Maku Arts’ first exhibition with Ames Yavuz is an opportunity to celebrate the milestone of their 20 year anniversary as well as the ways of working that are integral to the centre and Aṉangu culture The finalist portraits in the biggest Australian art award of the year have been announced alongside the winner of The Packing Room Prize: Abdul Abdullah for his portrait of fellow artist Jason Phu The National Gallery of Australia’s latest Know My Name exhibition presents the work of Australian fashion pioneers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson alongside pieces by Sonia Delauney tracing the French artist and designer’s influential use of colour and light “I see my work as a research project,” says Agneta Ekholm “I have a desire to reach into the unknown with each new painting.” Step inside her large-scale abstract paintings at Flinders Lane Gallery Mitch Cairns’s latest solo exhibition Restless Legs now showing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and home life—to find new pathways into painting A print and online magazine capturing the best of contemporary Australian art Design and Development by Light Years You’ll be delivered the latest in art news Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors the Colin Biggers & Paisley Foundation has developed a strong relationship with Hermannsburg Potters supporting the centre and its talented artists through pro bono legal advice In 2021, senior Hermannsburg artist, Anita Ratara produced one of her signature pottery works that was commissioned by the Colin Biggers & Paisley Foundation this incredible piece was displayed in the Sydney office for clients meaning Many Birds in Western Arrarnta language is a unique terracotta pot depicting a number of key landscapes and animals found in Anita's Country "All around my countryside we have thepa ntjaarra (many birds) For a long time we have been calling the birds by these names The Western Arrernte community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) is based at the remote foothills of the Western MacDonnell ranges in Central Australia Hermannsburg has a rich history as one of the birthplaces of contemporary Aboriginal art It was here that the watercolour art movement started and where internationally recognised artist Albert Namatjira painted Since 1990, the Hermannsburg Potters have been depicting their Arrernte stories on unique hand-crafted ceramics contributing to their self-employment and artistic career the Hermannsburg Potters exhibit their work widely through Australia and internationally The work of the Hermannsburg Potters is vibrant and highly original and draws on many influences from their natural environment The potters depict their favourite themes and subjects mission days and current life in Hermannsburg Anita Ratara was 'born bush' in the alukura (women's camp) near Hermannsburg in 1943 Anita showed a natural ability in the arts and crafts teaching herself to paint from an early age and comes from a family of artists Anita mostly depicts Palm Valley in her work Palm Valley is Anita's grandfather's Country and she continues to assert her links with her Country through art Her works have featured in a number of exhibitions galleries and art fairs across Australia and internationally by ilconline | Sep 20 Klän lecturing to an ILC and PCPCU delegation at the Large Cross Church in Hermannsburg explains some history of The Large Cross Church (Große Kreuzkirche) in Hermannsburg Louis Harms began the mission movement in Hermannsburg by establishing a mission seminary in 1849 which led to the development of the Hermannsburg Mission The Hermannsburg Mission was active in both South Africa and Ethiopia After this a large number of people formed the Large Cross Church in 1878 the Bleckmar Mission formed out of the Hermannsburg Mission The Large Cross Church was founded as an independent Lutheran congregation and later became part of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) which is a member of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) Delegates from the ILC and from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) recently met in Bleckmar for an informal dialogue The visit to Hermansburg and Bleckmar was to help explain a Lutheran view of mission for the church Professor at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne Ziegler described the Hermannsburg Mission theory: “Mission is the activity that originates in a living church Harms stated in a sermon on the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven (Matthew 13:31-33) that this parable contains two points: ‘The Christian church will spread over the entire world The church shall permeate the entire world Both things must go together in true missions but can only go together if we who do missions are not only Christians in name but when the sourdough of the gospel has permeated interiorly hearts and we therefore have become converted people living members of Christ’s body and therefore send no other messengers but those who also are permeated by the Gospel The establishment of the Large Holy Cross Church and the mission societies in Hermannsburg were connected to the awakening caused by powerful preaching Let us remember and live the motto of the Great Cross Church no crown” (“Ohne Kreuz keine Krone“) ——————— AFL is a big deal in remote Indigenous communities In the wake of the Adam Goodes controversy the Hermannsburg potters are painting its biggest stars adorned with a tiled mosaic and surrounded by red dirt and a pink fence houses a group of internationally respected artists The National Gallery of Victoria show, Our Land Is Alive, will feature a set of 20 themed pots celebrating iconic Aboriginal players and historic moments in AFL history The studio just sent off the last of them to the gallery and several of the women will attend as artists-in-residence to talk to visitors and teach young children the art of pottery But first they have a class to teach at the local school and an appearance at the central Australian art world’s night of nights, the Desert Mob exhibition, opening130km away in Alice Springs. The women chat and joke with each other in their own language. Flustered managers try to ensure everything is organised for Melbourne Senior artist Judith Inkamala works on a tribute to the Melbourne Demons while teaching her granddaughter the skill In front of Rahel Ungwanaka is an unfinished lion figurine which will eventually sit on top of a pot dedicated to the Brisbane team View image in fullscreenAFL stars celebrating on top of the Hermannsburg pots for the NGV exhibition. Photograph: Tobias TitzHermannsburg’s AFL loyalties are spread across the national competition and the potters’ studio is dotted with tributes to various teams Those famous moments on the exhibition pots include a goal by Michael Long and Nicky Winmar lifting his shirt to point to his black skin in response to racial abuse he received at a 1993 game Australian rules football is a big deal in remote Indigenous communities, particularly for young people who usually only see their favourite sporting stars on TV. The recent Adam Goodes controversy, in which the nation was gripped by debate over racial taunting and abuse of the Aboriginal AFL player, has lent extra significance to the potters’ exhibition. Read more“It made us really down when Adam Goodes was on the news for the racism He was doing the motion like our Aboriginal players when they kick a goal,” says art centre assistant manager Selina Malbunka referring to Goodes’s celebratory war dance “It’s really important for Aboriginal people that we are proud we can see our colour playing in the AFL,” she says “When [the kids] see an AFL player come to the community they’re really proud .. Out here young people have never been to the city and they only see the AFL players on the TV.” although they normally feature community teams The artists usually create work around their own experience and knowledge “Some of the senior artists have been down to the MCG and met Michael Long so they have that connection They all have their own take on it – Hayley did really current players whereas some of the older ladies did past players players like Jeff Farmer and Syd Jackson.” Hayley Coulthard is painting the side of a vase with a landscape of nearby Glen Helen Gorge The dramatic environment of the central desert region features heavily in most of the artists’ work and has translated surprisingly well to the football exhibit We are proud [when] we can see our colour playing in the AFLSelina Malbunka“What’s made these so great is they’ve approached it as landscape painters So where they’d normally do their mountain They’ve really captured that interaction between the audience and the game in a way I think they pull off because they’re essentially landscape artists.” Inkamala leads Guardian Australia through the community’s historic precinct – now a popular stop on the Grey Nomad trail – and shares stories of her childhood or Ntaria as it is known to Indigenous people was established as a religious mission in the late 1800s by German Lutherans It is now home to approximately 700 people and serves as a hub for surrounding outstations Inkamala was schooled on the mission and later employed by staff View image in fullscreenHayley Coulthhard at work in the studio Photograph: Helen Davidson/The GuardianWe walk past the old meat store out of the Aranda hymn book,” says Inkamala popping segments of mandarin into her mouth between verses “I learned from my mother and from my aunty our Aranda songs she translated with English and made a book for singing in the choir.” While much of the focus has been on the AFL pots the Melbourne exhibition will also include a full clay model of the Hermannsburg church Inkamala describes how the details of the church down to the hanging lights and baptismal font The following day the women gather again to work a little more and hold a class at the local school before heading to Alice Springs The exhibition opens with speeches and music outside the Araluen cultural precinct gallery Then the hordes of art collectors are allowed to rush through the doors hoping to make the first savvy “acquisitions” of prestigious works View image in fullscreenRona uses sign language to describe the story on her pot at the Desert Art exhibition in Alice Springs Photograph: Helen Davidson/The GuardianThe potters’ display is front and centre in one of the gallery halls It’s a big night out and the artists are swamped by admirers keen to hear the stories depicted in the paintings Ungwanaka describes the clay frill-neck lizard she created who is deaf and signs the story of the horseriding on her pot Ratara points out a small figure on Inkamala’s work – it’s her as a young girl wearing a yellow dress at Thanksgiving in Kuprilya Springs in the 1960s “The potters are a really important part of the Desert Mob exhibition but also the Desart family,” Philip Watkins “They’re telling their stories … creating their work “I feel very privileged and honoured when I’m in their studio space and the fun they have and the joy they have in their work and with each other Guardian Australia travelled to Hermannsburg courtesy of the National Gallery of Victoria The geographical heart of Australia contains a myriad of diverse art experiences from embracing the bulbous colourful pots at Hermannsburg to gazing at paintings with their labyrinth of dots and lines at Papunya the birthplace of what is considered to be the beginning of contemporary Aboriginal art Whether you’re a nature lover looking to step into an Albert Namatjira watercolour with its unmistakeable red dirt and undulations of the West MacDonnell Ranges/Tjoritja or a culture fiend who can’t get enough of city galleries and beanie festivals Ready to have your socks blown off? Here are the key art destinations to visit in the Red Centre get yourself to Alice Springs (Mparntwe) or Uluṟu both easily reachable by plane from most capital cities in Australia Explore the rugged beauty of the West MacDonnell Ranges Allow two to three days in the outback city before heading west through the West MacDonnell Ranges/Tjoritja to visit some of Australia’s most remote and remarkable art centres See extraordinary Aṉangu Art at The Gallery of Central Australia Highlights include galleries at Hermannsburg (Ntaria) Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji) and Papunya and don’t miss squeezing in a stop at the Ochre Pits where the Western Aranda people have gathered vivid yellow purple and white ochre for painting and body decoration for thousands of years Show your appreciation for the ancient landscape through art Prefer to take a deep art dive on an organised tour? Artist and guide Anna Dakin of Art Tours of Australia takes guests on jaunts through the Red Centre to either make art or Her 5-day Art and Culture Trip begins in Alice Springs and takes in Uluṟu where guests participate in an Aṉangu-led dot painting class before travelling into the West MacDonnell Ranges/Tjoritja The Ochre Pits are a highlight of the epic Larapinta trail (Image: World Expeditions/Great Walks of Australia) Alice Springs is a treasure chest of Aboriginal art from across Central Australia offering a lively mix of one-of-a-kind galleries See Namatjira paintings at Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre A great spot to kick off your artistic adventure in Alice Springs is the Araluen Arts Centre home to many famous paintings by Albert Namatjira including Haasts Bluff Country and Heavitree Gap Araluen Arts Centre features the works of the great Albert Namatjira Where else can you see a Namatjira watercolour and then within minutes be amongst the mountainous landscape that inspired him Namatjira uses watercolour to depict the beauty of Country Not far from here, on the edge of the CBD, you’ll find the Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre – an essential stop for continuing your journey into Namatjira’s world This vibrant gallery and working studio is home to the Namatjira artists who carry forward the landscapes made famous by their family member It’s the perfect place to not only see their stunning creations but also to watch artists at work and have a yarn about their craft Admire the Aboriginal art in Mbantua Gallery From here, saunter to Todd Mall, where you’ll discover a collection of lively art galleries, cooperatives and shops. Pop into Papunya Tula Gallery, Yubu Napa Art Gallery and Mbantua Gallery to see works by some of Australia’s most celebrated Aboriginal artists Tjanpi Desert Weavers provides job opportunities for women For fans of fibre art, don’t miss Tjanpi Desert Weavers a unique gallery showcasing intricately woven baskets all crafted by women from the Central and Western desert regions These baskets are intricately woven by women on Country If you’re looking to take your art adventure outdoors then it’s time to head into nature and discover the ancient rock art that dots the landscape There’s no better place to start than the East MacDonnell Ranges Start your adventure at Yeperenye/Emily Gap a picturesque spot in the East MacDonnell Ranges with its striking red rock formations and shady gums but it’s also home to rock art that depicts the caterpillar dreaming Hermannsburg is one of the Red Centre’s must-see gems and it’s easy to understand why – it’s like stepping back in time This well-preserved former Lutheran mission Just a scenic 130km drive west of Alice Springs it’s also the birthplace of Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira you’ll find a dining room and bakery that’s now home to a gallery and gift shop If you’re planning to visit the Hermannsburg Potters make sure to call ahead and book your spot before hitting the road You won’t want to make the trek out there only to find you’ve missed out on seeing these incredible artists in action The colourful terracotta pots burst with life each one telling a unique story about the artists’ culture and their connection to Country Hermannsburg is the birthplace of the Hermannsburg School of watercolour painting Art lovers, keep your engines running. If contemporary Aboriginal art is your thing, then you won’t want to miss the 230km drive west of Alice Springs to Haasts Bluff. At Ikuntji Artists you’ll find a dazzling mix of bold paintings vibrant textiles and eye-catching accessories – all crafted by talented Aboriginal artists Ikuntji Artists is pioneered by women in the Western Desert Art Movement (Image: Tourism NT/Christopher Tangey/Ikuntji Artists) This not-for-profit Aboriginal-owned centre has a fascinating history starting back in the 1980s when a group of women began painting in the local aged care facility it’s blossomed into a hub of creativity it’s a must-see destination for anyone wanting to experience the heartbeat of the region’s contemporary art scene he distinctive style of Ikuntji Artists brings the spirit of Haasts Bluff to life Papunya is the place that packs a punch in the world of Aboriginal art – it’s the birthplace of the iconic Western Desert dot-painting movement this artistic legacy lives on through Papunya Tjupi Artists where over 100 local artists bring their powerful visions to life Known for their striking line work and innovative approaches to telling ancient stories the artists of Papunya Tjupi continue to push boundaries while honouring tradition this is the place to experience it first-hand head south from Alice Springs to the iconic Uluṟu where the desert landscape meets the rich cultural traditions of the Aṉangu people Uluṟu is a breathtaking symbol of Australia’s heart Just a short drive from the rock itself, you’ll find Maruku Arts a fantastic not-for-profit cooperative run by Anangu artists from over 20 remote communities across the Central and Western deserts GMaruku Arts showcases the vibrant stories of the Anangu people you can dive deep into Aboriginal art and culture – whether it’s through exploring stunning dot paintings or learning about ancient techniques you can get hands-on and take part in a dot-painting workshop where you’ll create your own piece to take home Marvel at how meticulously each dot painting is made Uluṟu’s striking red rock face is world-renowned but it’s also a fantastic place to see rock art Around 80 sites reveal the Anangu people’s Tjukurpa (creation stories) and cultural knowledge Join the Maruku Art Dots Painting workshop with a local Aṉangu artist the best way is on a guided tour along the Mala Walk to Kantju Gorge or the Kuniya Walk to Mutitjulu Waterhole Take the legendary Kuniya Walk to the Mutitjulu waterhole Discover incredible things to do at Uluṟu (that aren’t climbing). Leah McLennan is a freelance writer based in Darwin She was a journalist in Sydney for over a decade and counts her time as travel editor for Australian Associated Press as one of the highlights of her career From exploring remote campsites in the Top End with her family to seeking out new art galleries in faraway cities she’ll grab an adventurous or arty travel experience within her reach and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Alice Springs offers an enchanting backdrop for camping in Australia's heartland.. The epic Larapinta Trail boasts sheer walls of vivid red rock and sapphire skies – and the potential to gr.. The Red Cente’s Finke Gorge National Park tempts adventurers with its tall wavering palms Australian Traveller Media acknowledges the traditional custodians of the Country on which we live and work I am an Australian Permanent Resident (including Humanitarian Visa holders) I am not a citizen of Australia or New Zealand I am not an Australian permanent resident or Humanitarian Visa holders Still unsure? Contact Student Central A new tourism partnership between Charles Darwin University (CDU) and the Department of Industry Tourism and Trade (DITT) will increase the local workforce in the tourism and hospitality sectors in the Hermannsburg community The Skills Development Project will deliver funding for CDU to employ a project officer to work alongside the local Aboriginal community to help deliver skills appropriate to the local tourism sector The objective of the project is to enhance employment opportunities through developing a tourism training hub and delivering training to the local community to boost economic development and jobs for the community CDU Associate Vice-Chancellor Central Australia Jay Walker said the project would support First Nations Territorians living within the Hermannsburg community to develop tourism pathways to support workforce development “This is an incredibly special project that puts First Nations people at the centre of community and workforce development – giving them the skills they need to strengthen the Territory’s tourism industry in Central Australia,” Mr Walker said “We’re working alongside First Nations people to ensure they have their rightful place in our tourism industry with all the economic benefits it brings their community.” Tourism NT Director Regions South Stuart Ord said the two-year project funded by the Northern Territory Government (NTG) will help increase the local skilled workforce within the Hermannsburg community for the tourism and hospitality sectors “One key action area for the region has been to help develop a local tourism and hospitality workforce and the project officer will work with the Hermannsburg School and local community to create long-term employment pathways for the community,” Mr Ord said “A major goal of this project is to give the people of the Hermannsburg community a sense of ownership over the Precinct and to ensure they are benefiting from potential business and tourism opportunities.” will be overseen by a newly appointed Steering Committee with members from the Commonwealth Government local not-for-profit businesses and the Hermannsburg community The new CDU Project Officer will work directly within the Hermannsburg community to support in the facilitation of creating employment opportunities View the Hermannsburg Historic Precinct website and tourism and hospitality courses available for study at CDU The Artificial Intelligence model was developed to detect changes in forest cover.  A political pathways program that has helped shape the Northern Territory’s political landscape is expanding to Alice Springs Volunteers have shouldered the burden of shorebird conservation in the Top End for more than half a century but new research from Charles Darwin University (CDU) suggests it’s time for the government to take responsibility for all of the Northern Territory’s residents – including those with wings.  Charles Darwin University acknowledges the traditional custodians across the lands on which we live and work CRICOS Provider No: 00300K RTO Provider No: 0373 TEQSA Provider ID PRV12069 We use cookies to improve our service. By continuing you agree to our privacy statement. EU/EA members can update your cookie settings here Work for The Economist’s Podcasts Department How The Economist reported on the final year of the second world war, week by week A handpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist I am in London on tour with a theatre show about my grandfather I would like to tell you about my grandfather Albert He was an important man; he met the Queen in 1954 He was the first man from Ntaria (Hermannsburg) to paint beautiful watercolours He taught painting to his family and lots of other people My father Oscar passed this knowledge on to me I started painting in the 1960s at the mission school in Hermannsburg I would also watch my uncle Enos and his son Gabrielle paint We were all living together in a house made of tin at that time I didn’t know Albert was famous until I was 17 I took my children to Alice Springs and I stopped painting and later began teaching the kids at Kulpitjara Homelands school and Hermannsburg school We made a book to tell the story of my grandfather and slowly more and more people started buying them Now we want to make our own arts centre strong View image in fullscreenLenie Namatjira in front of the Finke river Photograph: BighART Photograph: BighARTSo like my grandfather she gave him a medal and he quickly walked away as well as a postcard from the kids in Hermannsburg And I told her the children have got to learn to paint like I once did We want support from the government to start an arts centre in Alice Springs We want more funding to support Aboriginal art centres so we can keep painting strong for generations We want a place to sit together to come watch and learn how to paint – where anyone can come Painting is how we make our money to look after our families and it is hard to paint because we often don’t have our own place and no car to get out to the bush to paint our country want our own art centre so that no-one can control us – so we can own our own art We want to be able to support our young ones and keep them strong and proud so they can show their culture and country in their work And we want them to start up before the rest of us get too old We need to keep our art and stories strong – and for that reason I am proud to have met Her Majesty the Queen and to have passed on Albert’s story in London New First Nations tourism training is helping to build the professional credentials business acumen and interpersonal skills of Aboriginal people secure new jobs and career options for Aboriginal communities in Central Australia The training is also building capacity in the Red Centre tourism industry where there is significant international and domestic demand for First Nations tour guides who can provide authentic cultural perspective and knowledge of the country’s desert heart Charles Darwin University (CDU) has introduced new industry-based training at Ntaria (Hermannsburg) as part of Certificate I in Tourism (Australian Indigenous Culture) in partnership with the aboriginal owned 100% Finke River Culture and Adventures Course participants gain first-hand experience in delivering a tour of the Hermannsburg Historic Precinct with step-by-step commentary gradually added to the tour-guiding script all the Aboriginal graduates from the course this year have secured jobs in the tourism industry in Central Australia CDU Tourism Lecturer Martin Bollmeyer said Certificate I in Tourism (Australian Indigenous Culture) provides an important pathway to Indigenous employment in a wide range of jobs in the Northern Territory tourism industry “Possible job titles range from Indigenous tour operator to First Nations storyteller and Aboriginal cultural centre assistant,” Mr Bollmeyer said “The tourism course develops key professional and interpersonal skills to assist Aboriginal people working with domestic and international tourists.” Also providing crucial support for the CDU training is Hermannsburg Traditional Owner and co-owner of 100% Finke River Culture and Adventures who helps recruit and coordinate the attendance of Aboriginal participants most of the Aboriginal trainees who have graduated from the course have gained employment as Indigenous tour guides at 100% Finke River Culture and Adventures,” Mr Kenny said “Our Indigenous people have a lot of trust and faith in Martin and Megan (Aston) as CDU Lecturers who put 110 per cent into the job of helping to support us and the trainees know they will have a job at the end of the course “More and more Indigenous people are contacting me to enquire about the training and jobs Ms Aston said the course provides a pathway to employment in the tourism industry and the opportunity to advance their education and career credentials “Some of the graduates have since expressed interest in furthering their studies by undertaking Certificate III in Guiding at Charles Darwin University,” Ms Aston said Charles Darwin University (CDU) has opened a new Trades Training Centre at its Casuarina campus.  The Northern Territory has welcomed some of its newest residents with 14 Charles Darwin University (CDU) TAFE Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) students arriving in Darwin from Papua New Guinea as part of the Australian Government’s Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme pilot.  a Northern Australia business is training up its own workforce in collaboration with Charles Darwin University (CDU) TAFE to ensure essential services to remote communities are maintained without relying on a fly in Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time It's little less than a national disgrace Many of Australia's most famous white painters - from Hans and Nora Heysen to Arthur Boyd Brett Whiteley and Sidney Nolan have had their houses and/or studios canonised But not Albert Namatjira: the first Indigenous Australian to be given full citizenship rights in the birth country of himself and his many ancestors Driving along the road from Glen Helen to Alice Springs we almost miss the sign pointing to the house he had built when he was world-famous around five kilometres from where he was raised in Hermannsburg Three rogue dogs stop us even getting out of the car so ferocious are they to protect "their patch" Namatjira deserves a better memorial (and certainly not the hokey statue on the other side of town) A Hermannsburg Potters artist holding her finished artwork.Credit: Felix Baker Some locals have been pressing for Namatjira's home to be heritage-listed for years Fortunately Namatjira's continuing contribution to Australian art is well preserved at the Hermannsburg Historical District - the Lutheran mission where the young Albert was raised and learnt to paint Before Alice Springs was chosen as the half-way point between Adelaide and Darwin for the telegraph line linking Australia to the rest of the world Hermannsburg was the biggest settlement between the two capitals The German missionaries who founded Hermannsburg arrived by bullock cart from Adelaide exhausted after a 20 month journey in 1877 The land was already occupied when the Lutherans arrived The Arrernte language group roamed over an estimated 120,000 square kilometres of central Australia when the First Fleet rounded Sydney Heads But these specific Western Arrernte people who gathered around the new Germanic church the missionaries erected were ripe for converting Namatjira was Hermannsburg's most celebrated graduate he was delivered and raised at this mission south of the magnificent Tjoritja/West Macdonald National Park Today the Hermannsburg Historical District - roughly the size of the MCG cricket pitch - is much as it was it when Namatjira was growing up though back then it would have been teeming with the noise of saddlers The self-guided map that comes with the ticket explains what each building was when Namatjira was a lad the meat house (cold and dark before refrigeration reached the Outback) and the school rooms (it's disappointing to learn white and black children had different classrooms and different teacher/pupil ratios) But it was the tannery which allowed the mission to prosper sending kangaroo and cow hides to market in Alice Springs 130 kilometres away But anyone who has ever visited a working tannery knows that hellish stench must have wafted into the picturesque church at every service Namatjira learnt to paint European-style watercolours during his time at Hermannsburg It was that which forged his reputation and made him an international icon His paintings (increasingly using other media than watercolours) displayed the majesty of his traditional lands: the gums the rock formations - and most of all that extraordinary harsh light of the central deserts It's impossible to write about Namatjira without acknowledging his tragic end caught between two cultures - accepted by neither most of the paintings in the art gallery are from the Hermannsburg school Many are by Namatjira's descendants: children They show the same sensibility towards country he did However the daily artistic routine is now embodied mainly by the Hermannsburg Potters - a group of female Western Arrernte artists whose terracotta clay creations celebrate the Namatjira landscape in ceramics traveller.com.au/northern-territory northernterritory.com Steve Meacham was a guest of Northern Territory Tourism Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now It's little less than a national disgrace Many of Australia's most famous white painters - from Hans and Nora Heysen to Arthur Boyd Some locals have been pressing for Namatjira's home to be heritage-listed for years Fortunately Namatjira's continuing contribution to Australian art is well preserved at the Hermannsburg Historical District - the Lutheran mission where the young Albert was raised and learnt to paint Namatjira was Hermannsburg's most celebrated graduate the meat house (cold and dark before refrigeration reached the Outback) and the school rooms (it's disappointing to learn white and black children had different classrooms and different teacher/pupil ratios) It's impossible to write about Namatjira without acknowledging his tragic end Many are by Namatjira's descendants: children Hermannsburg is 120 kms west of Alice Springs via Larrapinta Drive on the way to Uluru or Kings Canyon Albert (Elea) Namatjira remains one of Australia’s most famous artists for his landscape paintings that celebrated the country through a unique lens of reds His story is a tragic one: the Western Arrarnta man became the first Aboriginal to be granted Australian citizenship in 1957 He was then exempted from laws that denied Indigenous Australians the right to vote but was arrested for introducing liquor into his community – a charge which he denied He was released from prison after two months but never recovered The National Gallery of Australia is celebrating the artist’s life and work with a new exhibition Painting Country: a survey of 40 of his watercolours and painted objects which have never been publicly displayed Photograph: All images via National Gallery of Australia we’d like to thank you for joining the debate - we’re glad you’ve chosen to participate and we value your opinions and experiences Please choose your username under which you would like all your comments to show up Please keep your posts respectful and abide by the community guidelines - and if you spot a comment you think doesn’t adhere to the guidelines please use the ‘Report’ link next to it to let us know Please preview your comment below and click ‘post’ when you’re happy with it Western Aranda woman Judith Inkamala on Back Roads at Hermannsburg Pottery. (ABC TV Back Roads) Link copiedShareShare articleJudith Inkamala, an established Indigenous artist from Hermannsburg, is in a unique position — between the past and the future, while her own present-day work achieves international renown. The 69-year-old joined the Hermannsburg Potters just a few years after the group was formed 26 years ago. Like other women here, Ms Inkamala has travelled to Indonesia and China for exhibitions and workshops. Her pots are sold around the world, and celebrated. One is even thought to have been purchased for Bill Clinton when he was US president. Hermannsburg's stunning landscape of white gums and the Western MacDonnell Ranges became known around the world through the artwork of perhaps its most famous son, Albert Namatjira. His presence is everywhere. The highway to the town is Namatjira Drive. Albert Namatjira's distinctive paintings inspired a whole new generation of artists, including the potters with their own unique style. Ms Inkamala remembers watching the artist at work when she was a child. It was her first introduction to art. Artist Albert Namatjira's painting of his Hermannsburg surroundings. This piece is a watercolour of Finke River Mission and Mount Hermannsburg (1951). (Supplied: Sotheby's Australia) "We knew Albert Namatjira very well," she said. "We [would] always go after school, we'd go around with [a] friend. "And then when Albert [went] up to the sand hill we'd always go there and watch him painting. "Sometimes he went down to the creek, and we always went swimming." Ms Inkamala said, once she started learning pottery, all her memories would come back, and she painted them — including memories of Albert Namatjira. "Sometimes I make good ones," she said. "We are making pots like Albert Namatjira's painting. With landscapes, sometimes a river. "I always put these stories on my pot." A collection of various art pieces from the Hermannsburg Pottery students (ABC TV Back Roads: Kerri Ritchie) These days though, Ms Inkamala is equally focused on passing on her skills to the next generation of potential potters. In the community-driven program Pots that Tell Stories, the artists work with students at the school next door, passing down stories to the younger generations and mentoring in Aranda language. The program has even taken five promising young students to Melbourne for an exhibition. "When you kids leave school, you come to pottery." The strong history of Hermannsburg visual culture and story-telling has become internationally renowned. (ABC TV Back Roads) Pottery is a good potential source of income in Hermannsburg, a former Lutheran mission town still dotted with historic white-washed buildings, which are now owned by traditional owners and form a tourist precinct. The potter's building is on the main road, past a rambling old cemetery. It is a small building, covered in bright and distinctive mosaic tiles depicting witchety grubs and other local fauna. "Keep going, make round, awal," Ms Inkamala clicks softly, slipping easily into Aranda. Ms Inkamala today is one of the most enduring of the talented ten Western Aranda women who together form the internationally-renowned Hermannsburg Potters. Their highly original colourful pots have lids adorned with distinctive sculptures of anything from birds to footy players, and the odd feral cat. The round bases are always painted in glazes. Each of Ms Inkamala's carefully-sculptured terracotta pots, like those of her colleagues, tell a story of her life, of the bush or a piece of the history of their home town Hermannsburg, about 130km west of Alice Springs. "I like to paint on my pots, when I go out bush I make landscapes," she tells ABC TV's Back Roads program, as she gently taps a small wooden bat against the sides of the emerging round pot; to smooth and shape it. "Sometimes I (paint) my countryside, Palm Valley, when I go around in the bush." The feral cat is remembered through Ms Inkamala's art. (Supplied by: Hermannsburg Potters) A large grey and black stripped cat sits on top of one of Ms Inkamala's most recent pots. It is a testament to a time some years ago when she became so seriously ill she was fed wild cat meat and other bush medicines to help regain her strength. "It tastes like rabbit," she explained of the delicacy, as she works to craft another piece of art from moist brown clay. "I said 'I can't eat it, I don't eat pussy meat' but [my sister] said 'No you eat it'. It's good medicine, you get better." Back Roads is on ABC TV at 8:00pm, Mondays. Topic:Food and Beverage Processing Industry AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) Play Duration: 29 minutes 29 seconds29m Brought to you by Glen Auricht's connection to the community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) stretches back to the mid 1800s. His family fled persecution in Prussia six generations ago, and were part of a wave of Lutheran settlers in South Australia. The church made contact with the Aboriginal community of Hermannsburg and that relationship continues to this day. Glen made his first trip up in 1967, and came back to live with his wife in 1973. They worked in the community for 23 years and still live in Alice Springs today, where Glen is heavily involved in everything from the Alice Springs Motorcycle Club to St John Ambulance. Glen Auricht spoke to the ABC's Miranda Tetlow on Late Lunch. Glen Auricht first arrived in Ntaria back in 1967. (ABC Radio Darwin: Paul Serratore) Published: 17 Dec 2021Fri 17 Dec 2021 at 4:00am Published: 16 Dec 2021Thu 16 Dec 2021 at 4:00am Published: 15 Dec 2021Wed 15 Dec 2021 at 4:00am Download the ABC listen app to text and call your favourite live radio Play Duration: 7 minutes 2 seconds7m Brought to you by Now Murch's daughter Michelle has returned the paintings Mervyn Rubuntja (senior artist at Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre and Judith Inkamala (senior artist at Hermannsburg Potters The paintings will be on display this weekend as part of Desert Mob. In his final years, Arthur Murch worked on a portrait of Albert Namatjira's wife, Rubina.(Supplied: Chris Duczynski) Published: 23 Apr 2025Wed 23 Apr 2025 at 12:00am Published: 16 Apr 2025Wed 16 Apr 2025 at 12:00am Published: 9 Apr 2025Wed 9 Apr 2025 at 12:00am Download the ABC listen app to hear more of your favourite podcasts The building depicted on Namatjira's boomerang now houses the Kata Anga Tea Rooms. (666 ABC Canberra: Louise Maher) Link copiedShareShare articleBefore he became a household name as a celebrated watercolour artist, Albert Namatjira made souvenirs for Central Australia's burgeoning tourist trade. Three of those wooden artefacts — a boomerang, a plaque and a walking stick — recently went on display at the National Museum of Australia (NMA). Curator Jennifer Wilson said they represented the period when Namatjira began to realise he could carve out a lucrative career in art. "These three works are really a nice way of getting into how he was exploring different products, different things to paint on ... things that he was familiar with making and things that were special to him and his family," Ms Wilson said. A watercolour painting of Mt Hermannsburg by Albert Namatjira. (Supplied) Namatjira (1902-1959) was born and raised at Hermannsburg, the Lutheran mission west of Alice Springs overseen from 1894 by Pastor Carl Strehlow. He was introduced to the Western style of painting in the early 1930s by visiting artists Rex Battarbee and John Gardner. In response to increasing tourist numbers after the extension of the railway to Alice Springs in 1929, the Arrernte people at Hermannsburg were encouraged to make a range of souvenirs for visitors. Through the 1930s, '40s and 50's they sold everything from needlework to spears. "The tannery that started during the 1930s [making] kangaroo rugs and moccasins was actually taking orders from Canada and England,so the range of buyers was actually quite large," Ms Wilson said. Namatjira's religious plaque was made from local mulga. (666 ABC Canberra: Louise Maher) The Namatjira boomerang is varnished and decorated with a watercolour painting of the missionaries' residence at Hermannsburg now housing the Kata Anga Tea Rooms. "It shows that transition from poker work and ochre and other types of paints into the watercolours on paper," Ms Wilson said of the piece. The plaque is based on ones the missionaries had in their homes and is inscribed with a religious phrase from an 18th century hymn. "[Namatjira] was a Lutheran; he was christened as part of the church and he worked briefly as a missionary," Ms Wilson said. "But he's also actually using the local wood, the local mulga, which was used for boomerangs and other traditional objects." Namatjira decorated the walking stick with an image of a desert rose. (666 ABC Canberra: Louise Maher) The plaque and the walking stick — which comes from the Strehlow collection — both feature a desert rose, which Ms Wilson described as Namatjira's "signature piece". "He's very skilled at depicting and talking about the environment around him, which was one of the things that attracted Rex Battarbee to Albert in the first place," Ms Wilson said. "He knew the landscape so well and it comes out in his work from a very early period." 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Melbourne Experience the wonders of Aranda Country in Mparntwe/Alice Springs through one hundred beatific watercolours at the free NGV exhibition Watercolour Country: 100 works from Hermannsburg.  Running from October 27–April 14, 2024, at the Ian Potter Centre the exhibition threads together watercolours made by Aranda Eastern Aranda and Kemarre/Loritja artists working in the Indigenous community of Ntaria/Hermannsburg across the generations.  Among the artworks is a new acquisition by Albert Namatjira who is regarded as of Australia's most prolific artists after he found fame through his pioneering landscapes of the Central Australian outback The exhibition also features contemporary artists Benita Clements and the likes of Gerhard Inkamala and Cordula Ebatarinja – one of the only women to have a career as a painter during the boom period of the Hermannsburg School.  slender ghost gums or jagged rock formations, Watercolour Country: 100 works from Hermannsburg spotlights the wild beauty of not only Aranda Country but the stories etched within Discover more about the upcoming exhibition by visiting the NGV website here. Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! twitterinstagrampinterestAbout us Contact us Image courtesy Alcaston Gallery and the The Hermannsburg Potters Kukulala (Major Mitchell’s Pink Cockatoo) This exhibition by Hermannsburg potters looks back to the history of their Country in a way that is strenuously contemporary according to Alcaston Gallery’s Beverly Knight “devoted their lives to this movement.” Potters such as Judith Pungkarta Inkamala Anita Mbitjana Ratara and Rona Panangka Rubuntja are integral to the Hermannsburg Pottery which began 30 years ago under the tutelage of ceramic artist Naomi Sharp The group has defined the style for which the Hermannsburg Potters are known and recognised distinctive Hermannsburg-style pots are characterised by a figurative narrative on the bowl and clay figures on the lids One of Judith Inkamala’s pots is titled Albert Namatjira after the painter whose watercolours made Hermannsburg famous the bowl of the pot shows women painters in the Hermannsburg landscape recording their impressions on canvas Rona Panangka Rubuntja’s AFLW Player includes a sculpture of a female football player on top with dramatic moments from the game depicted below Kukulala by Anita Mbitjana Ratara features a jaunty cockatoo above the distinctive red soil and mountainous landscape that is so recognisably Hermannsburg The 30-year history of the Hermannsburg Potters parallels that of Beverly Knight’s Alcaston Gallery (she opened one year before) and is part of the progression of this group in the last three decades “The exhibition is really a tribute to a group (mainly women although there have been men from time to time) who have dedicated their lives to keeping this extraordinary group of artists together in the Central Desert,” Knight explains “They have weathered financial storms and heartbreaks They have also had many dramas to deal with – recessions ceramic breakages – yet they have created amazing ceramics that are now all over the world They have been very quick to learn from other ceramicists Judith went to Indonesia to make bigger pots Now she is confidently travelling the world.” The history of pottery in this area began in the 1960s It reflected the watercolour traditions of Namatjira but also the use of ochre and the clay mining used by Western Arrernte people well before colonisation The pottery-making was encouraged during the early 1960s through the mission Between the mid-1960s and the arrival of Naomi Sharp in 1990 there was little activity on the ceramic front but pottery remained part of the community’s collective memory The qualities that the pots in this exhibition have developed with such charm also channel the ongoing strength of Arrernte connection to Country The delicate paintings that adorn them are done in different shades of oxides with the heat of the kiln bringing out the colours secreted in their underglazes they know what it is going to look like in the end The grey powders that make up the underglaze become multicoloured works; it is a highly technical skill.” In this exhibition the legacy of the past is imbued with fresh perspectives from the artists’ present Amanda Bell’s poignant new commission for the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts transforms the heaviness of history and unsettles hierarchies of place The theme for the 10th iteration of Parrtjima the Aboriginal festival of light that takes place annually in the Northern Territory The festival aims to reflect Indigenous culture and beliefs: both ancient knowledge and contemporary concerns It feels like everything is slowly but surely being affected by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) And like every other disruptive technology before it AI is having both positive and negative outcomes for society One of these negative outcomes is the very specific yet very real cultural harm posed to Australia’s Indigenous populations Books | Martin Edmond’s dual biography of Rex Battarbee and Albert Namatjira illuminates a remarkable friendship Eleanor Hogan 19 May 2015 1728 words “Unusual couple”: Rex Battarbee and Albert Namatjira in the 1960s Battarbee and Namatjira By Martin Edmond | Giramondo Press | $29.95 During the 1930s new railways and the promise of mineral wealth fuelled a surge of interest in the Australian interior Fascinated by the potential of those vast open spaces a returned soldier who’d lost the use of his left hand in a wartime accident Rather than becoming a lift attendant or a taxi driver – the employment options more usually suggested for disabled ex-servicemen – Battarbee had chosen to train as an artist he began painting watercolour landscapes to escape being cooped up in the city as a commercial artist Pastor Friedrich Albrecht at Hermannsburg mission introduced Battarbee to Albert Namatjira whom he invited on a painting expedition to Palm Valley Namatjira had already revealed his talent by burning designs on artefacts and producing several watercolours including an imitation of a Battarbee landscape hanging in Albrecht’s office the first in a series of collaborative artistic ventures Battarbee taught Namatjira watercolour techniques Theirs was far from a conventional master–pupil relationship for Namatjira “reciprocated with a knowledge of country that ran the gamut from simple foods to complex story-telling.” sold out in three days; reproductions of his watercolour landscapes which became synonymous with the Australian interior would eventually hang in households across the nation Although Battarbee was also reasonably successful by the standards of the thirties work and art are now less remembered outside central Australia re-centres Battarbee’s story and contribution in the better-known narrative of Namatjira and the emergence of Aboriginal art movements in central Australia He shows how Battarbee was particularly influential in the development of the Hermannsburg Art School teaching young Aboriginal men painterly techniques acting as an agent and dealer for the Namatjira Arts Committee and staying on to keep the Hermannsburg mission open after the Lutheran missionaries were accused of having Nazi affiliations to make sure it didn’t fall under the control of the mission or the Native Affairs department Edmond revisits the question of whether Namatjira’s renown was built on the novelty of an Aboriginal man painting successfully within Western traditions and forms during a period marked by a “vogue for the primitive.” To use John Reed’s words was his art “only the clever aping of an alien art form” who worried that his influence meant that Namatjira’s work and techniques too closely mimicked his own went on to encourage other Aboriginal artists to develop their own style Using previously unpublished material from Battarbee’s diaries Edmond explores what each man brought to their artistic partnership (although he doesn’t elaborate on the skills and techniques Namatjira may have brought from his own culture) Battarbee said that he taught Namatjira how to “analyse the landscape” and to “see colour in a way that was sound and true,” in the process enhancing his own artistic rationale and technique: “I felt the need to work out a new way and to achieve luminosity.” Central to his approach was the use of techniques developed by John Ruskin and other nineteenth-century watercolourists including the layering of pigment to intensify colour and bring out “the essence beyond appearances.” Although Namatjira learned “to see differently,” Edmond suggests that this way of looking did not replace “but augmented” how he already saw Namatjira’s work expressed Arrernte perceptions of landscape and cosmology through the medium of watercolour “Namatjira painting,” Edmond writes “can be representational of a landscape an actual simulacrum of it and also embody equivocal presences that resemble – and perhaps are – totemic beings who are neither representation nor simulacra but partake of the essence.” Battarbee and Namatjira’s other achievement is to portray an unconventional cross-cultural friendship It takes up the challenge of negotiating how two lives intersect without the formal constraints of marriage and managing the weight and influence of each subject’s trajectory on the other the leading support actor to Namatjira’s tragic protagonist reticent men: Edmond describes Battarbee as “an even-tempered even-handed man,” while Namatjira was “a highly emotional and extremely sensitive man who must keep what he feels hidden most of the time.” The book’s early chapters face the particular difficulty of trying to relate two quite different lives in separate reaches of the continent which perhaps makes the friendship all the more interesting and unusual Edmond suggests that the “lockstep” arose from the fact that both had spent a period in exile from their society: Battarbee during his wartime experience and years in hospital and Namatjira after marrying a bride “wrong way,” both culturally and as far as the missionaries were concerned and then leaving Hermannsburg for some years the narrative gains traction with the men’s initial meeting and the development of their partnership after which events in Namatjira’s life take on the painful momentum of tragedy Edmond’s depiction of their friendship has resonances with anthropologist Peter Sutton’s notion in his book The Politics of Suffering (2009) of “unusual couples” or negotiated relationships that are marked less by the pairing of “representatives of coloniser and colonised or black and white” than by “individuals whose experiences of each other were unusually complex and often had an impact on both individuals over a long period.” “What is crucial to these relationships is that they create their own order – in which blackness/[versus] whiteness and the rest of that categorical baggage simply go out the window.” Sutton lists various “frontier pairings” between Aboriginal individuals and missionaries nurses and others who have contributed to “the creation of knowledge and understanding” that transcends the cultural divide in ways more balanced than the dynamic between the individual and the corporate in contemporary Australian Indigenous affairs it is the exchange of artistic and cultural knowledge and the pursuit of luminosity that takes their alliance beyond this divide is “less a wanderer between worlds than a progressive sojourner in a sophisticated manifold reality.” In Battarbee’s case it’s his autonomy as a largely self-supporting artist – not subject to structures such as the mission and native affairs – that enables him to develop not only an artistic partnership but also a lifelong friendship with Namatjira His story contrasts with the more controlling interest of others who are embedded in conventional structures of the time including Pastor Albrecht at the Hermannsburg mission and John Brackenreg A career as an artist also provided a satisfying psychological and spiritual fit for Namatjira allowing him to experience some independence as well as maintain connection with country But he was unable to exercise his autonomy as an artist and capitalise on his career’s success to the fullest One of the book’s refrains is Namatjira’s request that he be left alone to paint in the way he wanted – free from the supervision and demands of missionaries art dealers and others – and to spend his money how he chose Edmond describes how Namatjira was able to purchase land in Alice Springs on the proceeds of art sales but unable to build a house to live on it because the provisions then in force did not permit him as a full-descent Aboriginal man to stay in town after dark Namatjira was understandably disgruntled at having to pay income tax while living in poor conditions in a camp on the edge of town the circumstances of which later brought him into contact with the law and custody after he supplied alcohol to relatives Namatjira’s story is that of the Aboriginal man who achieves some success in joining “mainstream” society but is ultimately ruined by its punitive and contradictory structures Battarbee and Namatjira interweaves the narratives of this unusual couple against the backdrop of a series of seismic shifts in post-settlement central Australia Beginning with a wide-angle focus on essence (tjurunga) in Arrernte cosmology as well as the impact of two world wars (in stimulating an interest in Aboriginal art and souvenirs for example) and of policy regimes such as assimilation and the extension of citizenship rights to Aboriginal people Edmond also provides a fascinating account of the development of the Aboriginal art sector in central Australia including the management of artists’ sales authenticity and the early use of an Aboriginal trademark Battarbee and Namatjira counterpoints personal narratives histories and paradigms of thought and policy dexterously carefully realised and absorbing portrait of an unconventional alliance across a cultural divide and it reads as smoothly and compellingly as a novel (with the italicisation of quoted material aiding the flow of the prose more than standard forms of academic citation) In revisiting Battarbee’s contribution to Namatjira’s development as an artist it’s a testimony not only to the value of friendship but also to a quiet and unassuming life well-lived Battarbee and Namatjira is a nuanced and sophisticated portrayal of the complexities and ambiguities of mid-twentieth-century Aboriginal–settler relations and a captivating read for anyone interested in the history of central Australia and its Aboriginal arts movements Eleanor Hogan is a Research Fellow at Swinburne Institute for Research and author of Alice Springs (2012) The Northern Territory is an art lover’s paradise with ‘bush TVs’ contemporary Indigenous artworks and more • Culinary adventures in the NT•Northern Territory regional guide Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The GuardianThe Northern Territory is an art lover’s paradise with ‘bush TVs’ Culinary adventures in the NTNorthern Territory regional guide Following the Northern Territory art trail offers those who love art the chance to get out of white cube galleries and into lovely Visit the tiny Central Australian community of Papunya to see where contemporary dot painting began or make your way to north-east Arnhem Land for memorial poles and award-winning digital film-making The territory is the best place to learn about artistic practices that which was traditionally made to contain the bones of a deceased child and remained with the mother until she gave birth to another The museum displays a warnamaleda made by an unknown artist from Groote Eylandt meticulously painted with an east wind design and decorated with feathers and string Darwin is founded on the lands of the Larrakia people and you can learn more about their culture There are also works from many other nations including morning star poles from Elcho Island didgeridoos and contemporary canvas paintings The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory is at 19 Conacher Street, The Gardens, Darwin, (08) 8999 8264. Free admission Read moreThe Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Aboriginal Art Centre deep in north-east Arnhem Land in the community of Yirrkala is a hive of activity as elder artists sit on the floor hunched over bark canvasses making painstakingly small brush strokes young men use chainsaws to hack away at tree trunks carving them into didgeridoos and memorial poles and school students sit at computers in the digital centre cutting together short films and audio documentaries The quality of work at the centre is high and it’s not surprising there is a healthy representation of Buku-Larrnggay Mulka artists showing at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait art awards each year one of the rising stars of the centre’s digital arm the Mulka Project took out the youth award for his evocative short film Sunlight energy II He juxtaposed footage he shot at the austere dry Mungo Lake in central New South Wales with the dynamism of his Arnhem Land home The Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Aboriginal Art Centre is in Yirrkala, north-east Arnhem Land, (08) 8987 1701. Free admission. A permit from the Northern Land Council is required to visit the region View image in fullscreenAnbangbang gallery at Nourlangie in Kakadu national park This artwork includes representations of Namarndjolg (the main figure centre) and Namarrgon the Lightning Man (right) Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The GuardianKakadu’s impressive collection of rock art – or gunbim as it is called by the Aboriginal traditional owners – illustrates both the earthly and spiritual realms of the region long-limbed Mimi spirits were responsible for these older works and it was from these spirits that their ancestors learned to paint Many of the ochre works are painted in the “x-ray art” style in which figures are depicted with anatomically accurate skeletal features At the Ubirr rock art site in the north-eastern part of the park, you’ll find depictions of native turtle, fish and wallaby species and even a thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), which hasn’t been seen on the Australian mainland for more than 2,000 years. South at the Nourlangie rock art site is a 1964 work by the Badmardi elder Nayombolmi. Don’t miss the ranger-led rock art tours that are included in the price of the park pass The Ubirr and Nourlangie rock art sites are in Kakadu national park, (08) 8938 1120. A pass is required for entry to the park and can be purchased online View image in fullscreenThe Nyinkka Nyunyu Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre’s self-guided audio tour is highly recommended Photograph: Nyinkka NyunyuAt the Nyinkka Nyunyu Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre in Tennant Creek also called “bush TVs” or wanjjal payinti in the local Warumungu language tells the dramatic story of the community’s struggles brown-coloured figures are depicted entering a corrugated tin house with a white This is Phillip Creek mission where children were once separated from their parents and segregated by gender and racial mixture (“half-castes” or “full-bloods”) The dioramas are rough-hewn yet vibrant and evocative in its portrayal of such harrowing chapters as children being removed from their family and the dispossession of Warumungu land It takes listeners through the dioramas as well as the excellent display of traditional tools Be sure to listen to stories of the sacred Dreaming site of the Nyinkka (spiky-tailed goanna) and be guided through a garden of bush tucker and medicine Nyinkka Nyunyu Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre is at 9 Paterson St fibre art and canvas paintings – fall out of your price range there’s also printed merchandise such as silk scarves Ghunmarn Gallery Centre is on Cameron Road in Wugularr Community (Beswick), (08) 8977 4250. Free admission PapunyaThis is arguably where contemporary Aboriginal art began: Papunya a tiny pinprick on the map 260km north-west of Alice Springs In the early 1970s a group of Papunya men including Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula began to paint their sacred stories of ritual and ceremony on to canvas for the first time This meant showing stories beyond the usual restricted audience of initiated men so they removed sensitive elements or camouflaged them with carefully placed dots These days the artists are just as likely to be women daughters and nieces of some of the pioneering male artists You will see them busy at work at the Papunya Tjupi Arts Centre mix paints and cover canvasses with depictions of country and many Among the centre’s notable painters is Beyula Puntungka Napanangka whose large-scale depictions of Kalinykalinypa Tjukurrpa (honey grevillea Dreaming) involve highly detailed Papunya Tjupi Arts Centre is in Papunya, (08) 8964 7141. If you would like to visit you must call or email ahead to arrange an appointment View image in fullscreenA Desert Mob installation at Araluen Photograph: Araluen Arts CentreAlice Springs is an art town and visiting its many galleries is one of its greatest pleasures This NT government gallery is the home of many important works of public art including the Hermannsburg watercolours and potters Papunya dot painters and a hall named in honour of the famed Arrarnta landscape artist Albert Namatjira fibre sculptures of the Tjanpi Desert Weavers including Marlene Rubuntja’s depictions of women’s life in the desert through her eccentric wool sculptures One of the best times to go is during September’s Desert Mob weekend a festival that draws together work from Aboriginal art centres in the territory South Australia and Western Australia and offers a rare opportunity to rub shoulders with many notable Aboriginal Australian artists based in remote regions The Araluen Arts Centre is part of the Araluen cultural precinct at 61 Larapinta Drive This covers all Araluen Art Centre galleries the Museum of Central Australia and the Central Australian Aviation Museum View image in fullscreenAn artist working at Iltja Ntjarra The studio in Alice Springs is used by a range of artists including relatives of the famed painter Albert Namatjira Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The GuardianThe Arrarnta man Albert Namatjira is considered one of the Australian art greats remembered for his poignant watercolours of the central desert His life was marked by national recognition of his talent but heartache too his art-world celebrity status working to highlight the discriminatory laws against Aboriginal people of the time heartbreaking chapters of his life proved that having a foot in both black and white worlds is rarely easy What remains are not only his paintings – the graceful MacDonnell Ranges in muted blues or loving portraits of stately pale white ghost gums – but a dynasty of artists that are considered part of the Hermannsburg school of painting Among the more established artists showcased is Mervyn Rubuntja whose graphic style and bold use of colour demonstrate the ongoing evolution of the Hermannsburg school Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands Art Centre) is at 29 Wilkinson Street View image in fullscreenHayley Coulthard at work inside the studio of the Hermannsburg Potters Photograph: Helen Davidson/The GuardianThe work of the Hermannsburg potters defies categorisation: craft Their terracotta pots featuring Aboriginal country musicians landscapes and perhaps the most common theme – native flora and fauna – are bold and beautiful is an important community and cultural centre and welcomes visitors by appointment only Their work is also available for purchase at the nearby Hermannsburg historic precinct Significant historical moments have made their way into the art a pot depicted footballer Nicky Winmar lifting his shirt and pointing at his bare skin a powerful statement of black pride after he was racially abused at a 1993 AFL game Hermannsburg Potters is at Hermannsburg. If you would like to visit you must contact the studio to arrange an appointment. (08) 8956 7414. Hermannsburg historic precinct is at 47 Raberaba Circuit View image in fullscreenField of Light Photograph: Field of LightAfter a sell-out 2016 season the acclaimed art installation Field of Light Uluru has been extended until 31 March 2018 Thousands of people have now watched the moon rise over the monolithic rock amid the glow of 50,000 installed coloured lights The solar-powered bulbs with slender stems slowly and constantly change in colour much like the big rock itself during sunrise and sunset The local Anangu traditional owners of the land have named the artwork Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku in Pitjantjatjara Bruce Munro, the British light artist responsible for the piece, lived in Australia during his 20s and 30s. At the end of his time here he did a road trip to the red centre in an old Toyota. As he told Guardian Australia: “My Sydney friends kept on saying ‘Go to Uluru,’ but of course none of them had actually been I jotted this idea down in my sketchbook and didn’t think it would see the light of day.” There are several options to view the work – at night Tours to Field of Light Uluru are organised by Ayers Rock Resort in Uluru, (02) 8296 8010 or 1300 134 044. Prices start at $35 for adults and $25 for children Art centre manager Isabelle Waters with artists Hayley Coulthard, Beth Inkamala, Rahel Ungwanaka, Lindy Rontji, Judith Inkamala, and Rona Rubuntja of the Hermannsburg Potters, pictured in front of the Hermannsburg Mission Church. (Supplied: Tobias Titz) Link copiedShareShare articleIn a workshop in the Central Australian desert, a group of Indigenous potters immortalise the greatest moments in Aboriginal AFL history and prepare for a national exhibition. The studio in Central Australia is abuzz with activity as the internationally respected Hermannsburg Potters paint the final touches on their terracotta pots for the exhibition Our Land is Alive: Hermannsburg Potters for Kids. National Gallery of Victoria commissioned works in progress in the Hermannsburg Potters' studio. (Supplied: Tobias Titz) The collection celebrates iconic Aboriginal players and historic moments in AFL history, such as St Kilda's Nicky Winmar lifting his shirt to point at his skin colour in defiance of racist taunts in 1993. Nicky Winmar's famous protest at Victoria Park in 1993. (Supplied: Wayne Ludbey) "We are always watching on TV and we support all the good players and that's why we put it on the pot," senior potter Judith Inkamala said. Ms Inkamala was working on a tribute to Michael Long's legendary kick from 50 metres out in 1993. "He's a champion man," Ms Inkamala said. Artist Rona Rubuntja of the Hermannsburg Potters at work in the Potters' studio. (Supplied: Tobias Titz) An exhibition of their work opens at the National Gallery of Victoria on Saturday and some of the Hermannsburg potters have travelled to Melbourne for event. "I'm proud of all the ladies going to Melbourne, taking all the pots for the exhibition, football one. All the Aboriginal players," potter Hayley Coulthard said. "I'm making (Hawthorn's) Rioli doing big mark in the (2014) Grand Final," she said. Artist Rahel Ungwanaka of the Hermannsburg Potters at work in the Potters' studio. (Supplied: Tobias Titz) Football has become a central part of community life in Hermannsburg, after being introduced by Lutheran missionaries in the 19th Century. The potter's personal experiences of football are depicted on pots in the exhibition. Artists Rona Rubuntja, Hayley Coulthard, and Lindy Rontji of the Hermannsburg Potters, with arts centre assistant Selina Malbunka, supporting their local team, the Bulldogs. (Supplied: Tobias Titz) The Hermannsburg Bulldogs training at dusk in Hermannsburg. (Supplied: Tobias Titz) "Some of my grandsons play in football and I support them," Judith Inkamala said. Hermannsburg is the famous home of Albert Namatjira , one of Australia's most prominent Aboriginal artists. Ceramics has become a unique part of the town since being taught by the missionaries. The Hermannsburg Potters forage for rock salt at the waterholes near Hermannsburg. (Supplied: Tobias Titz.) The Hermannsburg Potters forage for rock salt at the waterholes near Hermannsburg. (Supplied: Tobias Titz) "It feels good [to have our work displayed in Melbourne], makes me happy," Ms Inkamala said. "Pottery is pretty good, we like playing with clay, it's good fun." The artists recently celebrated 25 years of making their distinctive pots. A selection of Hermannsburg pottery celebrating moments in Aboriginal AFL history. (Supplied) This article contains content that is not available. “I now see my life as divided into two parts – pre and post Hermannsburg,” he says “It wasn’t just an artistic re-awakening I found there Nicholson has been a fixture on the Australian music scene for more than two decades but he’s since gone on to release numerous critically-acclaimed albums – two of them with ex-wife Kasey Chambers including 2008’s ARIA winning and chart-topping Rattlin’ Bones the singer/songwriter remains refreshingly down to earth “When I read my own bio – which is not often “But then it just makes me feel like I’m getting old it’s no surprise Nicholson also feels at home in the producer’s chair and has been named producer of the year by the CMAA on three occasions after the breakdown of his marriage to Chambers he found himself staring into the creative abyss unable to do what had formerly come so naturally “Before that trip to Hermannsburg I hadn’t written a song for six months I was producing albums for other people at the time but inside I felt all music-ed out,” he says Warren H Williams the indigenous country singer who I’ve known for many years “He kept insisting I come to stay with him out there I think he saw that I needed a change of scenery and some perspective with everything that was going on in my world at the time I think he knew all along that I’d get something from it and I totally did – that trip kicked started the whole album Something magical happened and I wrote the song [Hermannsburg] sitting next to the church It was like the floodgates opened and I couldn’t stop writing The guitar-driven hooks on When the Money’s Gone are another result of Nicholson’s time away “That was one of the songs that came out in a bit of a gush,” he says “It’s essentially a song about knowing who your friends are In Hermannsburg everything around you is so vast it’s impossible not to get some sense of perspective about your life back home I enjoyed the simple things like sitting around a campfire drinking black tea and just talking about nothing in particular It’s abundantly clear that a little time to sit back and reflect was exactly what the ARIA winning songwriter needed to fuel his creative juices his son Ario Ray and daughter Poet Poppin were never far from his mind providing the inspiration for the touching ballad Single Fathers “That song was directed towards my children,” he says I was in two minds about including it on the record because I was concerned that it could be taken the wrong way because of the line and I just wanted to highlight the fact that each parent offers something different in the nurturing of a child I wanted to say that and I felt it needed to be said “They know it’s about them and they sing along My daughter actually thinks the line is ‘There’s no mothers/ like singer fathers’ Sounding content as he chats about his kids more than I’ve found myself to be in the past “I feel like Hell Breaks Loose is a turning point,” he continues “Like the other albums I’ve done have been practice runs This one seems like a line in the sand from an artistic level and I feel like I’m finding a new voice after twenty years.” Support independent journalism, starting from less than $2 a week. By continuing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. It looks like your email isn't registered yet—let’s get you set up! Please enter a password below. We've sent a code to the below email.  Congratulations! Your registration was successful. Welcome to our Community! If you like this article, share it with your friends. Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe was in Ntaria (Hermannsburg) yesterday for a sit-down with Indigenous Community Television (ICTV) and two Western Arrarnta community members who questioned her in first language on how the Indigenous Voice to Parliament compared to Treaty, whether her opposition was emboldening racist voters, and the practicalities of pursuing Treaty should a No vote succeed. “We wanted local mob to talk to politicians who are either for or against the referendum and ask them questions about why they should vote Yes or No,” moderator, translator, ICTV reporter and himself a Western Arrarnta man from Ntaria Damien Williams told Crikey. “It gives people from the bush a chance to speak to politicians in their own language — our language, Western Arrarnta — and have it translated so there’s no room for misinterpretation. For something as big as a referendum on the voice of a lot of these people, ironically, they don’t get the chance to do this in Australia.” ICTV’s bush Q&A in Ntaria, 125 km west of Alice Springs, was originally designed as a panel discussion between community mob and a mix of Yes and No political and campaign voices, but Williams said that DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman Thorpe was the only one to RSVP with a hard “yes”. Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and No campaign leader Nyunggai Warren Mundine were uncontactable, Yes23 was a “no”, NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy gave an interview in ICTV’s Alice Springs headquarters but was not available for a sit-down in community, and MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour and Yes campaigner Pat Anderson both RSVP’d maybe. “I never say no to an invitation from community, that’s how I operate. It’s protocol, it’s respect,” Thorpe told Crikey in an interview on the side of the ICTV Q&A. In the absence of a full panel, Thorpe sat with Williams and Aboriginal health practitioners Renita Kantawara and Maryanne Malbunka under the shade of a gum tree in the Hermannsburg historic precinct. Both Western Arrarnta women were chosen by ICTV because of their cultural authority in community that came without a public profile. “In Ntaria, there’s a thing about media always going to the same people to speak and be the voice for the community,” Williams said. “These people meeting with Senator Thorpe, they’re leaders, but not the first person people go to speak to. They’re maybe the second, third or fourth person, so I want to give these mob a chance to be first.” The 30-minute conversation in Western Arrarnta and English covered the practicalities of a Voice (what it can and can’t do, who it does and doesn’t serve, what issues it will and won’t touch), how it compares with Treaty and truth-telling, what a No victory means for Treaty, and what it would take for Thorpe to support a Yes vote. In short, while nothing would make the senator say Yes, there were conditions under which she would stop campaigning for No. “I haven’t actually run a No campaign, I’m only responding to media,” Thorpe told Crikey. “But I can run a No camp. I can come out very strong and I will until [the government] promises or it shows with evidence that it is prepared to implement those recommendations [from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Bringing Them Home report] and pass the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” Thorpe said she’d been in discussions with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the past few weeks and would happily keep quiet if the government did come to the table. “It doesn’t have to be all the recommendations at once — they can announce a couple,” Thorpe said. Provided that happened — which she told Crikey was “absolutely possible” before October 14 — “I’ll shut my mouth until the referendum is done.” After that it would be business as usual pushing Treaty, truth-telling, the rollout of recommendations for Aboriginal deaths in custody and the removal of children, and the protection of sacred sites. From Western Arrarnta mob, Thorpe was asked whether her stance had emboldened racist voters. She said that while it might empower some, both the Yes and No campaigns were trumpeting racist rhetoric and she’d rather be able to identify a racist than not. While the No camp fell into the former, the senator said the Yes side represented the latter with white people simply wanting to feel good about doing something for Indigenous mob. She was also asked how a failed Voice would affect Treaty given the outcome could isolate a Yes cohort more inclined to support Treaty and vindicate a No vote less likely to get behind it. She was blunt: a No result would mark October 15 as the day the nation begins a revolution for First Nations peoples. Although Thorpe’s talking points in Ntaria were consistent with her position as a Blak sovereign leader in the city, she said the tone of conversation in community was very different from the usual lines of aggressive interrogation she’s subjected to. “It didn’t matter what question came out, it was about the respect that was given and the respect that was shown and the country around us,” she said. “So that is very, very different to the environment and the questions I get in most places I go to. “Except for community — that’s where the real yarns happen.” Thorpe said it was a privilege to be part of ICTV’s “two-way” conversation in first language and hoped that through the Q&A she’d planted the seed for a community “wish list” for Western Arrarnta mob to take forward in Treaty negotiations: “What do the people of Hermannsburg want? What do they really need? If they had a wish list, what would it be? That’s a conversation that needs to begin.” We all grew up with the framed reproductions of his work hanging on our walls. Namatjira's artwork is iconic to say the least. His artistic legacy continues in his community of Ntaria — a former Lutheran mission also known as Hermannsburg — south-west of Alice Springs. His descendants still visit the sites Namatjira painted, and are taught the Hermannsburg watercolour style. But today, if someone wants to reproduce a Namatjira painting in a book or a catalogue — regardless of whether they own the original, or if it's in a private or public collection — they need to obtain the permission of the copyright owner, and in some cases, pay a licensing fee or royalty. Many people are surprised to learn that the artist's copyright is not held by the Namatjira family — but the heirs of the now deceased Sydney art dealer John Brackenreg, who died in 1986. But it's now becoming clear that the copyright may have been assigned by mistake, for a term much longer than the public trustee ever intended. Gloria Pannka is one of the grand-daughters of Albert Namatjira, and a noted artist herself at the Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre in Alice Springs. "It is strange. You know, Albert didn't know he owned the copyright ...The family is confused about the copyright not being given back." That the family has an moral right to Namatjira's copyright estate seems obvious — but the Brackenreg family, who own an art gallery in the northern Sydney suburb of Artarmon, will retain their hold over Namatjira's copyright until 2029. That's because in 2005, the copyright period was extended by a further 20 years under the terms of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement. Certainly, Albert Namatjira entered into an agreement with John Brackenreg in 1957, two years before the artist died. Namatjira agreed to a partial and limited assignment of his copyright to John Brackenreg's publishing company Legend Press, in exchange for a 12 per cent royalty. Incidentally, that was the year Namatjira and his wife Rubina were granted full Australian citizenship, which brought with it right to purchase alcohol, own land and to control their own financial affairs. After he left a bottle of rum in the open, where his countrymen might get access to it, Namatjira was charged with supplying alcohol to an Aboriginal person—then a criminal offence in the Northern Territory. He was convicted — and after an appeal to the High Court failed, the artist served a two-month custodial sentence at Papunya – the site of the next flowering of art in the Central Desert. Namatjira left a will — drafted in 1945 — in which he passed his assets, including the copyright, to his wife and children. He named two executors — one of whom was the Lutheran missionary, Pastor Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht. In 1960, both executors renounced probate in favour of the Public Trustee, the authority appointed to administer deceased estates. That momentous decision by the executors to renounce probate explains why the Public Trustee was empowered to dispose of Namatjira's copyright estate in a contentious sale to Legend Press 23 years later. Albert's widow Rubina died in 1974. Contrary to some reports, she also left a will in which she named a sole executor. In 1962, she also drew up a plan to distribute her late husband's assets among their four surviving children, in what is known as a deed of family arrangement. John Brackenreg was a friend of Albert Namatjira, and an artist himself. In financial terms, it seems that there was some reciprocity between them. In 1958, Albert directed Legend Press to pay his wife an allowance. According to the biographer of Pastor Albrecht, Brackenreg bought a house for Rubina — funded by copyright royalty payments. Another of the artist's grand-daughters, Lenie Namatjira, remembers John Brackenreg visiting Hermannsburg during Albert's lifetime. But any financial returns from the copyright estate soon evaporated. Hetti Perkins, an independent art curator, writer and television broadcaster, says Namatjira's paintings were widely reproduced — on everything from postcards and placemats to tea towels and biscuit tins. "We all grew up with the framed reproductions of his work hanging on our walls," Ms Perkins says. "When I first heard that his family didn't directly benefit from the copyright of his work, I was pretty stunned, I have to tell you." The former Northern Territory public trustee, John Flynn, is now retired and living in Darwin. He does not have access to the "Namatjira file", which would include the copyright sale agreement. He has to rely solely on his memory of the events. "That's my recollection — that there was about seven years of the original copyright agreement left [in 1983]," he told Awaye! Flynn says the copyright sale — for $8,500 in 1983 — was designed to wind up the estate, so that outstanding royalties in the ledger books of the office of the public trustee could be paid out to Namatjira's many beneficiaries. "It was an easy way of finalising the estate," Flynn says. As Namatjira's beneficiaries themselves passed away, the distribution of royalty payments to those who were entitled to them became even more complex. "The amounts paid in each case would be quite minimal, and there would be a lot of administrative work. "I thought the easiest way was to clean it up to the extent of what was the original copyright agreement... It was very difficult to administer, and I thought if I got an actuarial valuation it was a sensible thing to do." But Flynn is certain that he would not have agreed to a full sale of the copyright for the entire period 50 years after the artist's death — the scope of any artist's copyright. "That would have been an extra 27 years and if I did, it was a mistake on my part. "Or it could have been that I was on holidays and somebody else in the office signed it without realising it should've only been for seven years." John Flynn is adamant that a full sale for the entire life of the copyright was never discussed during negotiations with John Brackenreg. "But any dealings I had with Legend on the phone or by correspondence — if my memory is correct — was only for the seven years. "That bothers me, that I or someone in the office may have signed something which wasn't a reflection of what we were doing. Unless I see the file and saw something different on the file, I don't… it was never my intention, I don't think—that was 35 years ago." Colin Golvan is a Queen's Counsel who specialises in intellectual property law, practising at the Victorian Bar. He's also a trustee of the Namatjira Legacy Trust, a charitable fund set up to restore the artist's legacy for the benefit of the entire Hermannsburg community and to foster the art movement. Mr Golvan says the copyright estate was significantly undervalued. "The public trustee should never have — in my view — parted with the copyright in the way that was done," he says. "It's indicative of the kind of state of incredible disadvantage that the copyright could have been sold for such a small amount of money and you can imagine that return over the years would have very, very significantly exceeded the capital value which was recognised by the public trustee." Mr Flynn says he approached an actuary to value to copyright estate, and the $8500 paid by John Brackenreg and Legend Press was based on that valuation. He admits that prior to the sale, he should have consulted an art expert to value the copyright estate — even for seven years. "In hindsight, a cautious public trustee would have done that." As a former senior curator of Aboriginal art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Hetti Perkins has dealt with Legend Press over the years while attempting to reach agreement for the use of Namatjira's artwork. "Look, I had a number of dealings with Legend Press and I know many people who did — with mixed results, to be frank," she says. The epithet that people often use when they talk about Namatjira's life is "tragic". The messy, unresolved business of his copyright might also been seen in that light. "It's another tragedy in a sense to add in a sense to the litany of tragedies that surround Albert's life," says Mr Golvan. He says if Namatjira's copyright can be returned to the trust on behalf of the Namatjira family, there's an argument that it could be extended in perpetuity.  There is a legal precedent for perpetual copyright: Peter Pan, by the Scottish author J.M. Barrie. In that case, any proceeds from the licensing of Barrie's copyright in Peter Pan flows not to his heirs, but to a children's hospital in London.  The inaugural chair of the newly-established Namatjira Legacy Trust, Sophia Marinos, has been deeply involved in negotiations with Legend Press at the invitation and on behalf of the Namatjira family.  A creative producer with the arts and social change company Big hART, she has worked with the Namatjira family and the Hermannsburg community on a multi-layered project including a stage play based on the artist's life. "The benefit of the copyright symbolically is massive, but practically it's an asset that can generate revenue for the trust. Without that, the trust will rely on donations and philanthropy and grants and so on." Ms Marinos is cautious but hopeful that Namatjira's copyright may one day be restored. "I think that the trust will be a really positive entity for that family and community no matter what happens — and that's been set up very deliberately in that way because it's unpredictable what will happen with the copyright." Albert's granddaughter Gloria Pannka firmly believes that he would've wanted his descendants to benefit from his copyright estate. "It's the future we are looking at. If we do get the copyright back, it would help us a lot." 'Cultural genocide': Flood of fake art threatens Indigenous artists and communities The Point and CHOICE partner to investigate the influx of fake Indigenous art Opening of Aboriginal artist-owned APY Gallery in Sydney a whopping success Consumer watchdog takes legal action against company over 'fake' Indigenous art ABC News News HomeRN (Image: Courtesy of Strehlow Research Centre) Link copiedShareShare articleA senior member of the Namatjira family has died in Alice Springs less than a week after a deal ended the protracted dispute over the copyright estate of renowned painter Albert Namatjira the matriarch of the Namatjira family and a faithful exponent of the Hermannsburg watercolour style has been hailed as "a tireless advocate" for the return of her grandfather's copyright Speaking before Kumantjai's death, her cousin Gloria Pannka told RN's Awaye! she visited her in hospital and told her the copyright had been returned "She was so excited," Ms Pannka said Trevor Jamieson in the lead role of the play Namatjira was mourning the death of her son when she died on Thursday night The return of the artist's copyright marked the end of a fight spanning decades, which has taken an emotional toll on the Namatjira family "Our family was talking all that time to get the copyright back Now we're losing family," Ms Pannka said last week Legend Press had held copyright of Namatjira's work since 1983 when the Public Trustee of the Northern Territory sold it to the firm's owner John Brackenreg for $8,500 without consulting an art expert as to its value The former trustee, John Flynn, has since admitted that was an error on his part Kumantjai Lankin performed silently in the eponymous stage production about her grandfather's life — exerting a gentle sage-like presence as she watched the story unfold night after night The production — part of the multi-layered Namatjira Project devised by theatre director Scott Rankin and his arts and social change company Big hART — toured nationally and internationally for three years The backdrops in Namitjira were recreated by the artist's family for copyright reasons Kumantjai recreated distinctive Namatjira landscapes as a backdrop reproductions of her grandfather's work could not be used without the permission of the then-copyright owners Many curators and institutions that dealt with Legend Press over the years complained that the copyright holders had not exercised their prerogative in a fair and judicious way even accusing them of stifling Namatjira's legacy Last week, Legend Press agreed to return the copyright of Albert Namatjira's artwork to the Namatjira Legacy Trust The newly-formed trust was set up to maintain Namatjira's artistic legacy after philanthropist Dick Smith brokered a deal between the family and the publishing company whose father once worked for Legend Press founder John Brackenreg said he explained the possible outcomes of a court case to the company Mr Smith said he was surprised when Philip Brackenreg stipulated that the sum of $250,000 should be paid to the Namatjira Legacy Trust The sum is estimated to equal the value of the copyright estate Mr Smith has confirmed that Legend Press received an undisclosed payment Mr Smith was present at the transfer of copyright and was a signatory to the deed but maintains he was only a minor player in the resolution of the dispute He said there was no visible acrimony between the two parties He said the earlier copyright agreement deprived Namatjira and his family of an asset worth millions. Under the terms of the 1957 agreement, 87.5 per cent of Namatjira's interest in his copyright — the Namatjira inheritance, if you will — was assigned to Legend Press, for which Namatjira was paid £10. The Namatjira family are now determined to maximise the artist's exposure. (Getty Images: John Van Hasselt) Mr Watson said the agreement with Legend Press was signed three weeks after Namatjira was exempted from the register of wards in the Northern Territory and granted citizenship. Before that, as a ward of the Commonwealth, Namatjira could not have signed a legal contract without the permission of the Director of Welfare. Namatjira died in 1959 and the executors of his will resigned, handballing the estate to the office of the NT Public Trustee, which was then under Commonwealth administrative control. The Public Trustee was empowered to administer the estate and to oversee the controversial 1983 sale. The Namatjira Legacy Trust, of which Ms Pannka is also a board member, must now come to terms with the management of the artist's copyright. Diverse and vibrant Aboriginal arts and culture every week. Ms Pannka is determined that copyright will be exercised to maximise the artist's exposure, and to return him to the place he deserves as the originator and leading exponent of the Hermannsburg style. A combined funeral service will be held for Kumantjai L Namatjira Lankin and her son at the Lutheran Church at Hermannsburg on November 14. Justin Elder at the gallery with the Namatjira work which appears to be pre-1938. (ABC News: David Frearson) Link copiedShareShare articleA small watercolour from renowned Australian artist Albert Namatjira has been found at the bottom of a cupboard at a deceased estate in Adelaide. The artwork of Hermannsburg Mission in the Northern Territory is signed Namatjira, Albert, a style the late artist used for about a year, before 1938. Jenine Lamberton and her sister found the watercolour among souvenirs from central Australia while they were clearing out their father's house at suburban Klemzig. "I'd gone through all of the shed and she went through the house and in pretty much the final cupboard she went through she found the painting and did recognise that it was important," Ms Lamberton said. She said her mother had been the art collector in the family, had dabbled in the pastime during her retirement and also briefly visited Hermannsburg years ago when another family member had been teaching there. Adelaide art dealer Jim Elder said it was incredibly fortunate the art did not end up in a rubbish skip. "When someone dies and their home is going to be sold, the home is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and the insides of the house become incidental but there are so many things that we lose in the shipwreck of time," he said. Mr Elder said the timber and lacquer used for the artwork indicated it was created before 1938. "Namatjira and [his mentor] Rex Baterbee discussed the merits of beanwood and they experimented with the work at that particular period," he said. "They openly discussed in Baterbee's notes, which are in the South Australian Museum, the merits of lacquering the work so it's interesting to note that this is lacquered — that means it's pre-1938." The Hermannsburg watercolour is tipped to sell for thousands of dollars. (ABC News: David Frearson) Namatjira's works were first exhibited in Melbourne in 1938 and it was then that he reversed his signature to read Albert Namatjira. The watercolour is tipped to fetch between $12,000 and $18,000 at auction in Adelaide next Sunday. A larger watercolour of the Hermannsburg Mission, painted by Namatjira some time after 1938, attracted a record price of $80,000 in 2006. "Now this work, I would be very surprised if it made that sort of money but it's certainly going to create a great deal of interest with state galleries and private collectors," Mr Elder said. "What is certain is that this is one of the most significant pieces of Australian art history to emerge in many, many years." Surfing Sydney: Children from Ntaria School take in Bondi Beach. (ABC TV) Link copiedShareShare articleA group of school children is heading home from Sydney to their remote community in Central Australia after a remarkable week in the big smoke. This week's visit to Sydney was a reward for school attendance and performance and for many of the children from the Ntaria School at Hermannsburg, 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs, it was the first time they had seen the ocean or even a high-rise building. During their stay the 40-odd students visited Taronga Zoo, where there was a long list of animals to see. The students are being hosted by the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern and sponsored by the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy. But their presence in Sydney is also largely down to Ntaria School principal Darrell Fowler. Since he took on the role three years ago, attendance at the school has soared. "There may have been only 20 or 30 and now we'd, we always have more than 100 and I think the record's around about 168 on one given day," he said. Mr Fowler says a number of factors have made that possible. An injection of federal and state funding means the school now has air-conditioning, electronic whiteboards and computers. A bus picks up stragglers in the morning, sometimes the principal himself goes into homes to wake them. And Mr Fowler says sometimes there is a price to pay if students do not show. "Two shops in the town on occasion will shut for a few hours until the children turn up to school," he said. "If we have a weekend where there might have been a football celebration or something like that it can be a bit slow on a Monday morning so we might have to close the shops down for a couple of hours. "The shopkeepers put a sign up on the door and the parents know that they can't get served until they get their children to school and that certainly does have an impact." But Mr Fowler is a reluctant hero and says the transformation in the town is a team effort. He and his staff often put in 12-hour days but he says it is worth it. "It is different from working in a big city school where just the level of appreciation I think you get from the kids and the look on their face," he said. "We always have our ups and downs but it's very rewarding." Now, the kids from Ntaria have swum in the ocean at Bondi, they have climbed the Harbour Bridge, visited the Opera House and at the zoo they saw seals, gorillas and elephants. But it was another Sydney attraction - Luna Park - which emerged as the clear favourite. 3m 41sRelated topicsCommunity and Society