TRAVEL TUESDAY 552 - ULURU

“Since the beginning, Native Peoples lived a life of being in harmony with all that surrounds us. It is a belief that all humankind are related to each other. Each has a purpose, spirit and sacredness. It is an understanding with the Great Spirit or Creator that we will follow these ways. And in this understanding we believe we are related to all other living species.” - Denis Banks

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.
There is only one simple rule:
Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and then share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.
Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies 335 km south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs, 450 km by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area.

The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site. Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain". An inselberg is a prominent isolated residual knob or hill that rises abruptly from and is surrounded by extensive and relatively flat erosion lowlands in a hot, dry region.

Uluru is also often referred to as a monolith, although this is a somewhat ambiguous term that is generally avoided by geologists. The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded.

I took the this photo of Uluru on board a plane while we were flying to Singapore. Even at cruising altitude, we were thoroughly awe-struck by its sheer size and majesty. The weathering of iron-bearing minerals in the rock by the process of oxidation gives the outer surface layer of Uluru a red-brown rusty colour, making for spectacular photos at sunrise and sunset when the reddish sun accentuates the rock's colour.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 328 - ULURU, AUSTRALIA

“Traveller, there are no paths. Paths are made by walking.” – Australian Aboriginal Proverb

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. 

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers shall be removed immediately.

This week, Australia opened its borders to international travellers who are fully vaccinated and welcomes tourists once again. As the airplanes begin to land in our airports our magnificent country is ready to welcome overseas guests to the many unique sights of our land. Welcome!

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies 335 km south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs, 450 km by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru has immense cultural significance and is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site.

Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain". An inselberg is a prominent isolated residual knob or hill that rises abruptly from and is surrounded by extensive and relatively flat erosion lowlands in a hot, dry region. Uluru is also often referred to as a monolith, although this is a somewhat ambiguous term that is generally avoided by geologists. The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded

This post is part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY #78 - DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS

“What land is this? Yon pretty town Is Delft, with all its wares displayed: The pride, the market-place, the crown And centre of the Potter’s trade.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately. 

Delft is a city and a municipality in the Netherlands. It is located in the province of South Holland, to the north of Rotterdam and south of The Hague. Delft is known for its historic town centre with canals, Delft Blue pottery, the Delft University of Technology, painter Johannes Vermeer and scientist Antony van Leeuwenhoek, and its association with the royal House of Orange-Nassau.

 The city of Delft came into being aside a canal, the ‘Delf’, which comes from the word delven, meaning delving or digging, and led to the name Delft. It presumably started around the 11th century as a landlord court. From a rural village in the early Middle Ages, Delft developed to a city, that in the 13th century (1246) received its charter.

The town’s association with the House of Orange started when William of Orange (Willem van Oranje), nicknamed William the Silent (Willem de Zwijger), took up residence in 1572. At the time he was the leader of growing national Dutch resistance against Spanish occupation, known as the Eighty Years’ War. By then Delft was one of the leading cities of Holland and it was equipped with the necessary city walls to serve as a headquarters. An attack by Spanish forces in October of that year was repelled.

 After the Act of Abjuration was proclaimed in 1581, Delft became the de facto capital of the newly independent Netherlands, as the seat of the Prince of Orange. When William was shot dead in 1584, by Balthazar Gerards in the hall of the Prinsenhof, the family’s traditional burial place in Breda was still in the hands of the Spanish. Therefore, he was buried in the Delft Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), starting a tradition for the House of Orange that has continued to the present day.

 The painter Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) was born in Delft. Vermeer used Delft streets and home interiors as the subject or background of his paintings. Several other famous painters lived and worked in Delft at that time, such as Pieter de Hoogh, Carel Fabritius, Nicolaes Maes, Gerard Houckgeest and Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet. They all were members of the Delft School. The Delft School is known for its images of domestic life, views of households, church interiors, courtyards, squares and the streets of Delft. The painters also produced pictures showing historic events, flower paintings, portraits for patrons and the court, and decorative pieces of art.

The city centre retains a large number of monumental buildings, whereas in many streets there are canals of which the borders are connected by typical bridges, altogether making this city a notable tourist destination.

Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue, is blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed pottery made in the Netherlands from the 16th century. Delftware in the latter sense is one of the types of tin-glazed earthenware or faience in which a white glaze is applied, usually decorated with metal oxides. It also forms part of the worldwide family of blue and white pottery, using variations of the plant-based decoration first developed in 14th century Chinese porcelain, and in great demand in Europe. Delftware includes pottery objects of all descriptions such as plates, ornaments and tiles. The most highly-regarded period of production is about 1640–1740.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #62 - KAKADU, AUSTRALIA

“There’s an expression in Australia that's called ‘Go Bush’, which means to get out of the city and relax. I try and ‘go bush’ to places where there’s no cell reception. But, I don’t get to do that often, so for the most part, it’s just a state of mind.” - Cate Blanchett

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us!

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin. Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region and covers an area of 19,804 square km (7,646 square miles), extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, or nearly half the size of Switzerland.

The Ranger Uranium Mine, one of the most productive Uranium mines in the world, is contained within the park. The name Kakadu comes from the mispronunciation of Gaagudju, which is the name of an Aboriginal language formerly spoken in the northern part of the Park. Kakadu is ecologically and biologically diverse. The main natural features protected within the National Park include: Four major rivers, six diverse geographical landforms and a huge variety of native flora and fauna.

Aboriginal people have occupied the Kakadu area continuously for at least 40,000 years. Kakadu National Park is renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years. The archaeological sites demonstrate Aboriginal occupation for at least 20 000 and possibly up to 40 000 years. The cultural and natural values of Kakadu National Park were recognised internationally when the Park was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is an international register of properties that are recognised as having outstanding cultural or natural values of international significance.

Approximately half of the land in Kakadu is aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and most of the remaining land is currently under claim by Aboriginal people. The areas of the Park that are owned by Aboriginal people are leased by the traditional owners to the Director of National Parks to be managed as a national park. The remaining area is Commonwealth land vested under the Director of National Parks. All of Kakadu is declared a national park under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

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MABO

“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.” - Andy Warhol

This morning Australians woke up to see Eddie Mabo's face on a “Google Doodle” on the www.google.com.au home page. Google marks what would have been Mabo's 80th birthday. Eddie Koiki Mabo (c. 29 June 1936 - 21 January 1992) was an Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and for his role in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia which overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius (“land belonging to nobody”) which characterised Australian law with regard to land and title.

Mabo was born Eddie Koiki Sambo but he changed his surname to Mabo when he was adopted by his uncle, Benny Mabo. He was born on the island of Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea. Mabo married Bonita Neehow, an Australian South Sea Islander, in 1959. The couple had seven children and adopted three more. One daughter, Gail, is an Aboriginal artist and dancer who works with schools in New South Wales as a cultural advisor and serves as the family's designated spokesperson.

Mabo worked on pearling boats, as a cane cutter, and as a railway fettler before becoming a gardener at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland at the age of 31. The time he spent on the campus had a massive impact on his life. In 1974, this culminated in a discussion he had with JCU historians Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, who recalled Mabo's reaction:

“We were having lunch one day in Reynolds' office when Koiki was just speaking about his land back on Mer, or Murray Island. Henry and I realised that in his mind he thought he owned that land, so we sort of glanced at each other, and then had the difficult responsibility of telling him that he didn't own that land, and that it was Crown land. Koiki was surprised, shocked and even ... he said and I remember him saying 'No way, it's not theirs, it's ours.' ”

In 1981 a land rights conference was held at James Cook University and Mabo made a speech to the audience where he explained the land inheritance system on Murray Island. The significance of this in terms of Australian common law doctrine was taken note of by one of the attendees, a lawyer, who suggested there should be a test case to claim land rights through the court system. Perth-based solicitor Greg McIntyre was at the conference and agreed to take the case; he then recruited barristers Ron Castan and Bryan Keon-Cohen. McIntyre represented Mabo during the hearings. Of the eventual outcome of that decision a decade later, Henry Reynolds said: “It was a ten year battle and it was a remarkable saga really.”

Mabo relaxed by working on his boat or painting watercolours of his island home; however, after 10 years the strain began to affect his health. On 21 January 1992, he died of cancer at the age of 55. Five months later, on 3 June 1992, the High Court announced its historic decision, namely overturning the legal doctrine of terra nullius - which is a term applied to the attitude of the British towards land ownership on the continent of Australia. Henry Reynolds remarked: “So Justice Moynihan's decision that Mabo wasn't the rightful heir was irrelevant because the decision that came out was that native title existed and it was up to the Aboriginal or Islander people to determine who owned what land.”

That decision is now commonly called “Mabo” in Australia and is recognised for its landmark status. Three years after Mabo died, that being the traditional mourning period for the people of Murray Island, a gathering was held in Townsville for a memorial service. Overnight, Mabo's gravesite was attacked by vandals who spray-painted swastikas and the word “Abo” (a derogatory slang term for an Aboriginal person) on his tombstone and removed a bronze bas-relief portrait of him. His family decided to have his body reburied on Murray Island. On the night of his re-interment, the Islanders performed their traditional ceremony for the burial of a king, a ritual not seen on the island for 80 years.

In 1992, Mabo was posthumously awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Awards, together with the Reverend Dave Passi, Sam Passi (deceased), James Rice (deceased), Celuia Mapo Salee (deceased) and Barbara Hocking. The award was in recognition “of their long and determined battle to gain justice for their people” and the “work over many years to gain legal recognition for indigenous people's rights”.

BUSH TUCKER

“In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.” – Charles Lindbergh

“Bush tucker” is a term given to food native to Australia, which was present before European colonisation. Australian aborigines had a healthy and varied diet based on the hunter-gatherer existence suitable to the nomadic life they led. They used whatever food was geographically and seasonally available and ate it for primarily nutritional purposes rather than epicurean ones. There was no refrigeration and only limited ways of preserving food, with no long-term storage containers known. Generally, whatever food was available had to be consumed quickly before it spoilt.

Local knowledge of which plants were edible, palatable, or delicious, as well as the best time for harvest and preparation methods, were passed orally to the next generation. Some plants or their fruits are less toxic at certain times and this may have had important consequences unless specialist knowledge was passed down through the generations. Hunting animals like kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles, emus, etc and fishing was a task for males while women hunted the smaller animals, collected honey ants, dug for witchetty grubs, edible roots and yams, collected seeds and fruits. Children accompanied the adults in these activities and learnt from an early age how to find water and food by imitation.

Concerning these hunting-gathering activities, Paul Gordon, the Language Officer at Brewarrina said in 1996: “A lot of people say Aboriginal people never farmed the land... Never ploughed the land and they never grew wheat and they never planted apple trees and orange trees. We never had to. Our Mother, the earth, she gave herself freely to us. And because we respected her and loved her we never had to go and do all them other things. That would have been harming our mother. So, we just took what she gave us.” 

Aborigines generally did not boil water, nor stew food, so their main cooking methods (and hence their menus) were different from the Europeans’. They did not have pots or pans, although northern tribes were known to have used bailer shells. Roasting over open flames or using dug-out ovens in the ground were the commonest ways of cooking and many foods were eaten raw. They did not make hot beverages of any kind, nor did they make jams, jellies, or chutneys. There was little use of flavourings and apart from Bunya nuts they only used food from their tribal area and did not trade.

Several aboriginal foods are now well incorporated into the modern Australian menu. Kangaroo meat is delicious, low in saturated fats and its production is more efficient in Australian conditions than the production of mutton or beef. Emu meat is widely consumed and there is a thriving export industry. Crocodile meat is also available and Barramundi is well-deserved fish delicacy. We still have to learn to accept certain aboriginal foods onto our tables. Insects in particular seem to hold a particular aversion (for example, I would not want to sample grubs, larvae, grasshoppers, ants and the like). Many people find the idea of eating reptiles repulsive also.

Early European arrivals ate the fruit of the currant bush and the leaves of the native sarsaparilla vine to ward off scurvy. Warrigal greens (Tetragonia tetragonoides) grow quickly and are called “native spinach” by some. We have some growing in the garden and we eat its young shoots in salads or boil the leaves to have with a simple vinaigrette sauce. Some early settlers quickly learned to make made lilly-pilly (Syzygium australe) and quandong (native peach - Santalum acuminatum) jam. More and more native plants are being developed as popular foods and there is even a burgeoning export industry (see: http://www.cherikoff.net/cherikoff/)

MOVIE MONDAY - TEN CANOES

“Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.” - Jean Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract”

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment in eighteenth century Europe. He was a great intellectual and his work includes philosophical discourses, political treatises and novels. “The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality” was his second philosophical work and it claims that human beings are basically good by nature, but were corrupted by the complex historical events that resulted in the present day civil society. He proposed in this work the concept of the “noble savage”, the primitive human being who lives in communion with nature and is basically good and noble. Rousseau’s praise of nature is a theme that continues throughout his later works as well.

“The Fatal Impact: The Invasion of the South Pacific, 1767-1840” by Alan Moorehead (1987) is a book that takes Rousseau’s premise and applies it to the discovery of Australia and the South Pacific exemplifying the concept of the “noble savage” who was degraded, corrupted, exploited and culturally alienated by the invading Europeans. It is a must to read for anyone who wishes to understand the development of “young” nations like Australia and New Zealand. Moorehead objectively discusses the social and political situation in 18th century Europe and the triggers that led to the settling of the South Pacific. The title of the book describes accurately the decimation of whole populations and the destruction that ensued after the European invasion. The decadence of the “Noble Savage” is chronicled and the “civilised” culture of the Europeans is held up to considerable scrutiny and immense and justified criticism.

This may be a very long introduction to talk about the film for Movie Monday today, but it needs to be said as the film is one, which for the first time attempts to accurately portray Australian Aboriginal culture and life before the arrival of the Europeans. The film is Rolf de Heer’s “Ten Canoes” (2006). When watching the film on DVD I chose to watch the whole of it in the Aboriginal soundtrack version with English subtitles. This contributed greatly to the illusion of times long past, and the gentle, crooning, melodic language of the Northern Australian Aboriginal tribes that was used contributed more to the magic of the story.

Aboriginal culture thrives on stories and storytelling, so it is no surprise that this film is constructed in the way that it is. It is about a storyteller telling a story, about his ancestors, who in turn are telling a story, which is about their ancestors. It is a box, containing a box containing another box, or is like a series of nested Matryoshka Russian dolls. The film was shot on location in very remote areas of the Northern Territory of Australia and the actors are, obviously, all Aborigines. The landscape is absolutely breathtaking and is the other major player in the film. The cinematography incorporates the landscape into the story and makes of it a living thing, something that actively participates in the unwinding of the stories. The stories themselves are likened in the film to young trees that blossom, and grow, and branch and the metaphor is very apt.

There are two stories depicted, both taking place in two distant periods in the past before the arrival of whites. The first story is filmed in black-and-white, and concerns a young man called Dayindi who takes part in his first hunt for goose eggs in the Arafura swamp, in central Arnhem Land. He learns how to build a bark canoe and his older brother tells him a story that has immediate relevance to his own life. This older man, Minygululu knows that Dayinidi fancies his young and pretty third wife, so the story he tells is about the old laws, and a young man who had no wife. This second story that Minygululu relates is set in a much older time, and filmed in colour, It concerns Yeeralparil, who fancies the third wife of the warrior Ridjimiraril, mirroring the first story. The two stories weave in and out of each other and in the process we gain insight into a culture that is foreign to us, but at the same time imbued with great nobility. The alternation of the black and white with the colour footage not only separates the two stories but is also a tribute to the early photographers of the Aborigines, who documented the writings of the anthropologists.

There is humour in the film, as well as drama. We witness the interaction of the tribe members with each other as well as with members of other tribes. We experience their joys and sorrows and become involved in their rituals, beliefs and laws. There is an earthy, genuine quality about the people we observe and all in all this is a beautiful film and displays a maturing of Australian film-making involving the Aborigines in a way that was begun by the impressive collaboration between de Heer and Gulpilil in a previous film “The Tracker” (2002).

If you can get your hands on this film, watch it! It is a magnificent attempt at documenting a culture that is under the threat of extinction. Watching this film brought to my mind the Aboriginal legends that I have read and the wonderful art of the Aboriginal people. It brought to mind Rousseau’s ideal “Noble Savage” and also Moorehead’s “Fatal Impact”. It is a film that makes one happy and sad at the same time, and I can only imagine the pain that a native Australian would feel when watching this film. However, there must also be pride and nostalgia mixed with those painful emotions in the heart of the Aborigine. “Ten Canoes” is a great way of glimpsing an alien culture, yet one which is nevertheless deeply human, and hence engaging. 

MOVIE MONDAY - SERENADES

“Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.” - Gilbert K. Chesterton

Yesterday we watched an Australian film by Mojgan Ghadem, called “Serenades” (2001). It stars Alice Haines, Aden Young, Sinisa Copic, Bille Brown, David Gulpilil and Nick Lathouris. It is set in the late 1800s in the forbidding desert of Central Australia. At that time, camels imported from overseas were the major form of desert transport. To look after them and deal with the business of the transport, a host of Afghan cameleers also came to our shores. These men were used to the desert conditions and camel handling, so they were highly successful in running these camel caravans in the Outback. No women came with the Afghans and this created all sorts of social issues.

The film examines such an issue. On a Christian mission at the edge of the desert, an Afghan cameleer purchases a night with an Australian aboriginal woman by giving her father a pistol to pay for her favours. A girl is born of this one night encounter; a girl whose parents are an Aboriginal mother and an Afghan father. She grows to become a dark skinned, green eyed, beauty. This film is the story of Jila who walks on the razor’s edge of cultures and attempts to balance her life despite a great number of odds against her. She has to deal with conflicting religions, male domination, social stigmatisation and the awakening of love.

The cast do a wonderful job in portraying the emotions of the clashes between the cultures, particularly Alice Haines as Jila and Aden Young as Johann. It is a love story set in an anguished background. It is tenderly directed by Mojgan Khadem. In the words of the publicity for the film: “This is a story of Jila. Conceived against her mother’s will, born between two worlds, abandoned by love, cheated by death, removed from her faith and from her place. Given no choice, no say. All her life men decided how she would live, what she would dream, who she would worship, who she would marry. Yet no husband or lover could comprehend the depth of her passion. No Christian or Muslim could fathom her spirit. Only the landscape could give her comfort. Only the music could serenade her soul.”

The film is earnestly and sensitively made, although it does tend to look a little unpolished here and there. The story unfolds with facility, giving the viewer a great deal of satisfaction. One of the highlights for me was the beautiful music by Davood A. Tabrizi, which set the scene marvellously. If you have a chance, do try and see this film, which despite its shortcomings is a good one to watch.

ART SUNDAY - CLIFFORD POSSUM

“We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.” - Kevin Rudd

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri is an Australian Aboriginal artist. He was born ca 1932 on a creek bed on Napperby Station 200km north west of Alice Springs. He is considered to be one of the most collected and renowned of Australian Aboriginal artists. His paintings are held in numerous galleries and significant collections in Australian and elsewhere, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Kelton Foundation and the Royal Collection.

Possum’s father was Tjatjiti Tjungurrayai and his mother was Long Rose Nangala. After his father’s death in the 1940s his mother married Gwoya Jungarai, better known as ‘One Pound Jimmy’, whose image was used on a well-known Australian postage stamp. Possum’s  brother was Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri  (1929-1984), whose artwork appeared on another stamp.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the most famous of the contemporary artists who lived around Papunya, in the Northern Territory’s Western Desert area, when the acrylic painting style (known popularly as “dot art”) was initiated. Geoffrey Bardon came to Papunya in the early 1970s and encouraged the Aboriginal people to put their dreaming stories on canvas, stories which had previously been depicted ephemerally on the ground. Clifford Possum emerged as one of the leaders in this school of painting, which has come to be called the Western Desert Art Movement. Possum was of the Anmatyerre culture-linguistic group from around Alherramp (Laramba) community. He was of the Peltharr skin.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri received no formal education and spent his early years as a stockman during which time he also became an accomplished wood carver. Whilst in Papunya in early 1970s, he was persuaded to join Geoffrey Bardon’s Papunya Artists group by his brother, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri. Clifford Possum was a pivotal figure in the development of aboriginal art as we know it today, initially through his refinement of dot art and later via his exploration of increasingly complex and diverse iconography. He is particularly noted for his series of five map style paintings which gave an indigenous perspective of the geography of his country. One of those paintings, “Warlugulong” (1977), recently broke the auction record for Australia aboriginal art, selling for $2.4 million at Sotheby’s.

Chairman of Papunya Tula Artists from 1980 to 1983 and again in the late 1980's, Possum went on to exhibit in Australia and overseas and was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to art and the indigenous community. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri led a groundbreaking career and was amongst the vanguard of Indigenous Australian artists to be recognised by the international art world. Like Albert Namatjira before him, Clifford Possum blazed a trail for future generations of Indigenous artists; bridging the gap between Aboriginal art and contemporary Australian art.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri died in 2002 in Alice Springs. His two daughters, Gabriella Possum Nungurayyi and Michelle Possum Nungurayyi, are renowned artists in their own right. There was legal controversy surrounding his burial, as his surviving family and community maintained he wished to be buried in a location different from that specified in his will. He was buried at Yuelamu, which had been the preference of his community and daughters, several weeks after his death.

The painting above is “Honey Ant and Rock Wallaby Dreaming” (1996) Synthetic polymer paint on linen 160x245cm. The wallaby can be seen in this painting by the tail and paw tracks through the middle of the painting and the arcs running along the top and bottom, which represent a body paint design. The part-circles represent honey ant nests, some of which have been partly buried due to a large storm, and the white bean shapes represent the queen ants. Aboriginal art is rich in symbols and some of these can be seen here.

This Art Sunday post is in honour of Australia’s National Sorry Day (an Australia-wide anniversary held on May 26th every year since 1998). The day gives people the opportunity to come together and share the steps towards healing for the Stolen Generations of indigenous children, their families and communities. Stolen Generations refer to Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families and communities in order to assimilate them into white society. More information here.

ART SUNDAY - ALBERT NAMATJIRA

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” - Henry WardBeecher

Art Sunday today is dedicated to one of the first Aboriginal artists who became recognised by Australia’s white majority. In the early colonial period in Australia the Aborigines were regarded as “primitives” with no shred of culture and little better than animals. The new settlers often pursued and killed natives for trifles and the European weapons were no match for the Aboriginal traditional ones made of wood and stone.

In the 19^th century, the native population was encouraged to adopt European ways and try to assimilate into the white culture. This was extremely difficult for a people that lived a nomadic lifestyle and who prized the wide-open spaces and tribal life. However, some individuals succeeded to more or less fit in and adopt European manners, have an education and produce works of art acceptable to European eyes.

One of these artists was Albert Namatjira, (born 28/7/1902, Hermannsburg, near Alice Springs, died Aug. 8/8/1959, Alice Springs), whose conventional Western-type watercolour landscapes of central Australia were deemed “good enough” by the Europeans. He was a member of the Aranda tribe and went to a Lutheran mission school. He was taught European watercolour technique by a white artist, Rex Battarbee, from 1934 to 1936, and became a teacher at the Finke River Aboriginal Mission School.

In 1936 he sold his first painting, and, in 1938, 41 of his watercolours were exhibited in Melbourne and were sold out, starting a great demand for his work. He exhibited frequently in the next two decades and became well known in Australia and even overseas (one of his paintings was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in 1954).

Although he was granted Australian citizenship in 1957, his racial origin hindered his freedom. He was barred from moving into what he aspiringly called “a white man’s house” in a residential area of Alice Springs because he was an Aborigine. In the last year of his life he was jailed for two months for supplying alcoholic liquor to a non-citizen Aborigine. After release, he spent most of his final months at Hermannsburg, Australia’s largest mission station, continuing to paint, though in poor health.

At Namatjira’s time most of the Aboriginal traditional art was dismissed by the majority of the Australian population as “primitive scrawls” and the tribal designs were characterised as splotches of paint that aided in “mumbo-jumbo ceremonies”. Hence Namatjira’s success with his highly skilled and talented paintings in what was for him a foreign artistic tradition. Nevertheless, Namatjira made known world-wide the wild beauty of central Australia.

Well into the 1960s, the attitude of dismissing traditional Aboriginal culture persisted, although many visionary modernists in Australia had discovered the wealth of Aboriginal art and started to showcase it. Most of the open-minded people who were interested in an all-inclusive cultural heritage for Australia, took up this cause and over the next few decades, traditional Aboriginal art boomed into prominence world-wide.

The painting above, "Alice Springs Country" is a watercolour in paper and typical of Namatjira's style. Sweeping landscape with the bright sunlight of central Australia giving the colours a jewel-like intensity. The composition and execution is quite traditional, even though the subject matter is uniquely Australian. This is perhaps the reason for Namatjira's success as a painter in white Australian society.

SORRY DAY

“The ability of a person to atone has always been the most remarkable of human features.” - Leon Uris

Today is National Sorry Day, which is an Australia-wide anniversary held on May 26th every year since 1998. The day gives people the opportunity to come together and share the steps towards healing for the Stolen Generations of indigenous children, their families and communities. Stolen Generations refer to Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families and communities in order to assimilate them into white society.

The first National Sorry Day was held on May 26, 1998, which was one year after the tabling of a report about the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their blood families and communities. The report, known as “Bringing Them Home”, at last acknowledged that Indigenous children were forcibly separated from their families and communities since the early days of European occupation in Australia. Governments and missionaries were responsible for this forced separation, which created miserable conditions and psychological problems for whole generations.

Various “assimilation” and “protection” policies were implemented by the late 19th century. However, the most systematic and widespread forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families occurred during the 1950s and 1960s in the name of assimilation. These children are now known as the “Stolen Generations”. They were brought up in institutions or fostered to non-Indigenous families. This removal was official government policy in Australia until 1969.

In the 1980s welfare and community groups spoke out against such government and social welfare practices that were clearly discriminatory against Indigenous people. This forced a reappraisal of removal and placement practice during the 1980s. In 1980 the family tracing and reunion agency Link-Up (NSW) Aboriginal Corporation was established. Similar services now exist throughout Australia.

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s Prime Minister at the time, tabled a motion in Parliament on February 13, 2008, apologising to Australia’s Indigenous people, particularly the Stolen Generations and their families and communities, for the laws and policies that inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss. This formal parliamentary apology included a proposal for a policy commission to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in matters such as life expectancy, educational achievement, and economic opportunity. This event was regarded by many as a step forward in reconciliation.

On Sorry Day, one is more likely to see the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flags flying. The Aboriginal flag is horizontally divided into two equal halves of black and red with a yellow circle in the centre. The black symbolises Australia’s Aboriginal people and the yellow circle represents the sun. The red represents the earth and people’s relationship with the land. It also represents ochre, which is used in Aboriginal ceremonies in Australia. Harold Joseph Thomas designed the flag, which was first flown at Victoria Square in Adelaide on July 12, 1971.

The Torres Strait Islander flag stands for Torres Strait Islanders’ unity and identity. It features three horizontal stripes, with green at the top and bottom of the flag and blue in between, divided by thin black lines. A white dharri (a type of headdress) sits in the centre, with a five-point star underneath it. The color green represents the land. The dharri symbolises all Torres Strait Islanders. The black represents the people and the blue represents the sea. The five-point star symbolizes the island groups. The star is white, which symbolises peace in this case. Bernard Namok designed the flag.

The Stolen Generations represent one of the most reprehensible and callous policies that have ever been realized in Australia’s history. Formally apologising for this and trying to redeem for the mistakes of the past is the least that we as Australians can do to try and redress some of the wrongs that were committed. Sorry Day is a symbol of the reconciling nature and the all-inclusiveness of our present-day Australian society.

ART SUNDAY - CLIFFORD POSSUM

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.” - Georgia O’Keeffe

For Art Sunday today, a great Australian artist, Clifford Possum Japaltjarri. Clifford Possum was born in 1932 on Napperby Station. He worked extensively as a stockman on the cattle stations in and around his tribal country. At this time he developed an excellent knowledge of the Dreaming Trails that criss-cross the area to the north of the western McDonnell Ranges, which he depicts in painting his Dreamings.

His career as an artist began in the 1950’s when he carved snakes and goannas. By the 1970’s he was one of the most accomplished carvers in Central Australia. His first opportunity to paint came when one of Albert Namatjira’s sons gave him acrylic paints and he began his work. Clifford, living at the Papunya Community was one of the first artists to be involved with the Aboriginal Art Movement.

The art of Clifford Possum is notable for its three-dimensional aspects, although he uses traditional two-dmensional aboriginal art conventions. Many of his paintings have figurative elements, which stand out from the highly stylised dotted backgrounds. In the late 1970’s he expanded the scope of Papunya Tula painting by placing the trails of several ancestors on the same canvas in the fashion of a road map. Within this framework, he depicted the land geographically. This laid the foundation for traditional Aboriginal Iconography to be placed on canvas. The other artist working with him took his lead and removed any elements of European Art from their work. In doing so Clifford, as well as the other artists involved with the Papunya Tula Movement helped to develop the true definition of Aboriginal Art, an art revolving around a culture, The Jukurrpa.

In some of his paintings Clifford gives a visual impression of sunlight, cloud, shadow and earth to denote specific times of the day. His paintings show superlative skill, incredible inventiveness of form and are visually spectacular. Clifford's work is contemporary but essentially Aboriginal in inspiration. To appreciate its full significance it is essential to not only see its colour, composition and balance, but also its mythological context. One of the extraordinary qualities of Clifford's work and other Western Desert artists is that they are a visual writing and speak to the Aboriginal as books do to Europeans. When asked why he became an Artist, he answered:

“That Dreaming been all the time. From our early days, before European people came up. That Dreaming carry on. Old people carry on this law, business, schooling for the young people. Grandfather and grandmother, uncle and aunty, mummy and father, all that, they been carry on this, teach ‘em all the young boys and girls. They been using the dancing boards, spear, boomerang all painted. And they been using them on body different times.


Kids, I see them all the time, painted. All the young fellas they go hunting and the old people there, they do sand painting. They put down all the story, same like I do on canvas. All the young fella they bring ‘em back kangaroo. Same all the ladies, they been get all the bush fruit, might be bush onion, plum, might be honey ants, might be yala, all the kungkas (women) bring them back. Because everybody there all ready waiting. Everybody painted. They been using ochres all the colours from the rock. People use them to paint up. I use paint and canvas that's not from us, from European people. Business time we don't use paints the way I use them, no we use them from rock, teach ‘em all the young fellas.”

Clifford passed away in Alice Springs on the 21st June 2002, after recently being recognised for his contribution to Australian Art and culture, by being made an “Officer of the Order of Australia”. His final days where spent at the Hetty Perkins Nursing Home Alice Springs where he passed away surrounded by close family and friends.