VINCENT LINGIARI ART AWARD OUR COUNTRY – TRUE STORY VINCENT LINGIARI ART AWARD OUR COUNTRY – TRUE STORY The Vincent Lingiari Art Award

David Frank, Our Future, 2016, acrylic on linen, 36cm x 51cm

The Vincent Lingiari Art Award atrocious treatment of Aboriginal through which their members was established in 2016 to celebrate peoples and their campaign for could secure Aboriginal Freehold the 50th Anniversary of the historic land rights. Title to their traditional land. Wave Hill Walk Off and 40 years Today Aboriginal people own since the Aboriginal Land Rights Act After persistent struggle, lobbying almost half of the land in the (NT) 1976 was enacted by the and negotiation, the Gurindji . Australian Parliament. secured a lease over a small portion of their traditional lands The Vincent Lingiari Award On the 23 August 1966, Vincent for residential and cultural honours the leadership, courage Lingiari, Gurindji leader and head purposes. In 1975, Prime Minister and strength of Vincent Lingiairi stockman at Wave Hill Station led Gough Whitlam poured red dirt and all those who have fought workers and their families to walk into the hands of Vincent Lingiari for their land rights. off the cattle station in protest to symbolise the return of what has against unjust working and living always been, and always will be, conditions. The stockmen and their Aboriginal land. families relocated to Wattie Creek in a strike that was to last nine One year later, the Aboriginal Land years. The Walk Off and strike Rights Act (NT) returned Aboriginal became much more than a call for reserves and mission land in the equal rights; it soon became a fight Northern Territory to traditional for the return of Gurindji Lands. land owners. It established the The Walk Off attracted national Central and Northern Land and international attention to the Councils, as well as a process The Uluṟu Statement from the Heart

Anangu artists (from left) Christine Brumby, Charmaine Kulitja, Rene Kulitja and Happy Reid with the Uluru Statement canvas. Image: Clive Scollay.

“WE, gathered at the 2017 National With substantive constitutional Makarrata is the culmination of our Constitutional Convention, coming change and structural reform, we agenda: the coming together after a from all points of the southern sky, believe this ancient sovereignty can struggle. It captures our aspirations make this statement from the shine through as a fuller expression for a fair and truthful relationship heart: of ’s nationhood. with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Proportionally, we are the most on justice and self-determination. Islander tribes were the first incarcerated people on the planet. sovereign Nations of the Australian We are not an innately criminal We seek a Makarrata Commission continent and its adjacent islands, people. Our children are aliened to supervise a process of and possessed it under our own from their families at agreement-making between laws and customs. This our unprecedented rates. This cannot governments and First Nations and ancestors did, according to the be because we have no love for truth-telling about our history. reckoning of our culture, from the them. And our youth languish in In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 Creation, according to the common detention in obscene numbers. we seek to be heard. We leave base law from ‘time immemorial’, and They should be our hope for the camp and start our trek across this according to science more than future. vast country. We invite you to walk 60,000 years ago. These dimensions of our crisis tell with us in a movement of the This sovereignty is a spiritual plainly the structural nature of our Australian people for a better notion: the ancestral tie between problem. This is the torment of future.” the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the our powerlessness. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander We seek constitutional reforms peoples who were born therefrom, to empower our people and take a remain attached thereto, and must rightful place in our own country. one day return thither to be united When we have power over our with our ancestors. This link is the destiny our children will flourish. basis of the ownership of the soil, They will walk in two worlds and or better, of sovereignty. It has The Uluru Statement from the Heart, including, Uluru-ku Tjukurpa, , N.T, 2017, acrylic and ink on canvas, created by their culture will be a gift to their never been ceded or extinguished, Rene Kulitja, Charmaine Kulitja, Christine Brumby and Happy Reid. Photo: Saul Steed. country. and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown. We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in How could it be otherwise? That the Constitution. peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years? Our Languages Statement by Joe Martin-Jard

Our art makes this country truly Vincent Lingiari Art Award prize, There, Queensland Aboriginal unique on the world stage. It the mothers and fathers of the participant Noel Pearson presented distinguishes Australia as a rich Uluru Statement were busy a timeline about the evolution of source of living Aboriginal culture devising a process that would build Aboriginal rights between 1788 and and enterprise of which all consensus about constitutional the High Court’s Mabo decision, Australians can be proud. change from the ground up. culminating in the convention. The exodus of striking workers It’s no coincidence, then, that the For this consensus to have and their families from Wave Hill Uluru Statement from the Heart, legitimacy they had to ensure it Station that Vincent Lingiari led which seeks to unite, advance and was representative of men and and the land rights legislation that ‘grow up’ this nation, is bordered women, emerging and established followed stood out as inspiring by incredible artwork by Anangu leaders, urban, regional and remote examples of Aboriginal leadership women telling creation stories communities and reflected both and achievement. about their country. traditional and contemporary authority. The regional dialogues As far as milestones go, they were Aboriginal art and land rights have model they came up with was one right up there with the 1967 evolved together and the two of the finest examples of referendum, the Barunga continue to nurture and inspire participatory democracy and Statement, then Prime Minister each other. That’s why the Central deliberative polling Australia has Paul Keating’s Redfern speech and Land Council and Desart launched ever seen. the apology to the stolen the inaugural Vincent Lingiari Art generations. Pearson’s reminder of Award in 2016 to celebrate the 40th At the regional dialogue at Ross their shared journey helped to anniversary of the Aboriginal Land River near , one of galvanise the convention delegates’ Rights Act and the 50th anniversary 12 around the nation, more than support for the Uluru Statement of the Wave Hill Walk Off. a hundred delegates from across with its call for a constitutionally Central Australia educated enshrined Aboriginal voice to Little did the two organisations themselves about the constitution parliament and a Makarrata know that these two milestones with the help of interpreters, legal commission to oversee a process of would assume new significance in experts and respected leaders. truth telling and agreement making. the deliberations that led to the They elected 10 participants to Uluru Statement nine months later. attend a national constitutional convention at Uluru in May 2017. As the 2016 award judge Hetti Perkins, daughter of the CLC’s first director, announced that Marlene Rubuntja, daughter of the CLC’s first chair, had won the first $15,000 No matter the order of the words “We remember those who lost Undeterred by lack of response to “This might make you contributed generously to the ‘voice, treaty and truth’, as the their lives in war every year, in such requests and the federal laugh but it makes me sad when evaluation of the whole initiative statement has been summed up every town around Australia. government’s dismissal of the Uluru I think about my father and those and then did it all again for this for the theme of this year’s NAIDOC We have a special public holiday Statement, the CLC executive tin sheds,” says Ms Rubuntja. year’s award. Day celebrations, many Uluru for it and lots of memorials agreed to make truth telling the convention delegates said facing everywhere. What about our theme of the second Vincent To what is common knowledge My thanks go to the award’s main the facts of our shared history is fallen loved ones?” Lingiari Art Award. This year’s award about Central Australian Aboriginal sponsors, the Peter Kittle Motor essential for healing theme Our Country - True Story is mobility, Judith Chambers’ entry Company and Newmont Australia, intergenerational trauma: truth This is a question former CLC an invitation to artists from across adds the rarely heard story of whose continuing support is helping is a prerequisite. chair Francis Kelly posed in Central Australia to express their Aboriginal people cutting the roads us to establish the Vincent Lingiari August 2018, as the families of truth in the medium of their choice. through their country to facilitate Art Award as a much loved and How can we move forward the survivors and perpetrators of Their responses show a keen desire that legendary mobility. Armed thought provoking highlight on together, they asked, unless we the state-sanctioned killing sprees to speak up about the past for the with just one tractor and axes, her Central Australia’s events calendar. acknowledge how our country was known as the Coniston Massacre sake of the future. family and others made a new road settled? How can we grow together were telling their truth at Yurrkuru linking Warburton to Warakurna in Lastly, I want to thank the family of as a nation if we can’t speak of the outstation during the 90th Irrunytju’s Noreen Parker reminds remote WA more directly than had Vincent Lingiari, whose true story lie of terra nullius, the land grabs, anniversary of these ’killing times’. us that the fallout of the Maralinga roads made by the better known continues to inspire this nation and the massacres and the stolen nuclear tests continues to cast a road maker Len Beadell. who have believed in this event children? If we don’t guard against “Until all Australians know about shadow over her family and others, from the very beginning. forgetting as other nations with the crimes committed against while Broken Law, the painting by With entries like these, who would painful histories have done? our families we can’t move Malya Teamay from Mutitjulu, want to be in the award judges’ Joe Martin-Jard forward as one mob, one country,” depicts some harsh truths about shoes? Or the shoes of the CLC CLC Director It is important that all Australians Mr Kelly said. colonisation but also his optimism delegates who will again be picking are made aware of the full extent about reconciliation. the winner of the Delegates Choice of the injustices our people were Former CLC executive member Award? As we again await their forced to endure. To move forward Teddy Long asked the assembled Sometimes the truth comes across decision, it is worth reminding to a better future and to prevent politicians “to build something” all cheerful before it ambushes you. ourselves that the Vincent Lingiari further injustices, we must all at Yurkurru “for Yapa and white This is true of 2016 winner Marlene Art Award would not have seen the acknowledge and understand our families to come along and learn Rubuntja’s sculpture this year of one light of day if the CLC’s long-time collective history. Lest we forget has what has happened” and for a of the tin sheds her father got as director, David Ross, had not a much wider meaning for our mob national memorial day recognising ‘reward’ for helping to set up the championed it from the outset. than the wars Australians choose to “massacres not only here but all town camps in Alice Springs, all Mr Ross used his influence in the remember on ANZAC Day. massacres of Aboriginal people while raising a family in the bed of corporate world to source the first that happened around Australia”. the Todd River. The sheds proved prize money and the funds for the unliveable and were left to the first exhibition catalogue, took emus and kangaroos. great delight in the first exhibition, Statement by Sammy Wilson

Our old people have been teaching I’ve been in tourism for more than They need to hear the truth from The Central Land Council has kept Some people still don’t think their Lingiari Art Award, is an me the stories of my country since two decades now and have chaired the people who live it. They need to our desire for truth telling alive, ancestors did anything wrong when opportunity for mainstream I was 11 years old. True stories, of the board of joint management of feel what it’s like to have open land for example by commemorating they came to this country. We have Australia to learn why truth telling country around Uluru that my the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park around them and to be connected the many loved ones we lost in to tell the truth otherwise people matters so much to us. The works family has looked after forever. since 2014. World travelling tourists to family and others they live side atrocities such as the 1928 Coniston will still think we are wrong to want by Central Australian artists chosen I’ve learnt the stories from my have come to me and I have by side in the world with, sharing Massacre. The political response our rights. We need the Makarrata for this exhibition are testament to grandfather Imalyangu ‘Paddy’ travelled the world. I sit down with responsibility for it. Many people in to these events has been the Uluru Statement speaks of. It the special capacity of art to Uluru and from the tjilpis (senior people from overseas and we talk the cities live in tiny blocks far from disappointing. Politicians show up means facing the wrongdoing to express and help heal the wrongs men) through traditional business. about what they think about their family and don’t even know for photo opportunities, place make peace again. In my language, of our past for a better tomorrow. government, climate change, who their neighbours are. They wreaths and give speeches but , we call this kalypa. They talked about the intruders everything. need to understand why it is ignore our calls to improve the My sincere thanks to the 25 artists who took what was never theirs important for us to talk up for our school curriculum on the nation’s Anangu believe that if you don’t who have submitted their works, and got rid of those who stood in My family and I have shared our country and culture, what it means history and to declare a public know your Tjukurpa or Dreaming – to Desart for partnering with us their way. My great grandfather stories with many visitors to Patji, to us and why it is more important holiday similar to ANZAC Day your country’s stories, songs and on this Award, to our sponsors the Lungkata met William Gosse, the my homeland just outside the than money. Many people are lost where we can remember those ceremonies - you remain a child, no Peter Kittle Motor Company and first non-Anangu person to visit national park’s boundary, because because they don’t know where we have lost in the frontier wars. matter how old you get. This is true Newmont Australia, the judge of here in 1873. In 1932, police we want them to hear the truth they are from and who they are. for people and for nations. You can’t the main prize, Glenn Iseger- constable McKinnon shot and killed and learn about it straight from us. I want them to learn from us. If they I have learned from my grow up without facing the hard Pilkington and the CLC’s elected my grandfather’s brother Yukun. As we watch the sun set on Uluru know what they or their ancestors international guests how other things. As a person, you have to members who set aside time at My grandfather fled in fear for his from Patji we tell them how very have done in the past around here nations deal with this. I ask myself: keep opening the doors of deeper their July council meeting to pick life and didn’t return for more than important country is to us and and how some people are still if the South Africans can set up a knowledge. If Australia doesn’t the winner of the Delegates’ Choice 20 years. what has happened here since trying to make us the same as them Truth and Reconciliation open the next door it will be stuck. Award. white contact. Patji has become a I think most become sad. They can Commission to try and heal the As a child, I didn’t fully understand place where we share our truth imagine how it would feel if we did scars of Apartheid and if the The Uluru Statement - voice, treaty Sammy Wilson how famous the name Uluru was. with the world. this to them. They can see we still Germans can keep both the and truth - is the next door. We CLC Chair Kids would always tease each other want to live together and respect memory and the lessons of the believe Australia needs to learn and about coming from a different area. Overseas people love it because each other. And they can see that Holocaust alive why should it be acknowledge the true stories of all I thought it would be easier to take often they have lost their we can’t move forward together as beyond Australians to face up to its peoples so that it can finally a surname that had nothing to do indigenous culture and their land a reconciled nation, as much as we their colonial history? become a mature and unified with country. Little did I know that is covered in buildings, not want to, until we acknowledge our country with a constitution which sharing my stories of country with trees. Australian tourists tell me shared past with honesty. we can all be proud of. visitors, tjukurpa stories and history, they never learned about Aboriginal would become my job. people in school and they are happy Our art is a key to that door. to hear about this history from me. Most have only seen Aboriginal ‘Our Country – True Story’, the culture and history in museums. theme of this the second Vincent Statement by Phillip Watkins

As I write this essay, activities are governments and Aboriginal and Truth telling is the foundation of MacDonnell Ranges, Central taking place around the country Torres Strait Islander peoples. strength and here in Central Australia) providing another story celebrating NAIDOC week. This These reforms would build on the Australia Aboriginal law, the of the landscape surrounding year’s theme ‘Voice. Treaty. Truth. 1967 referendum which changed Tjukurrpa/Altyerre, is that strength. Mpwarnte (Alice Springs). The 2019 Let’s work together’, is also reflected the Constitution of Australia to Country is fundamental to the Hadley's Art Prize winner Carbiene in the theme of the second Vincent allow the Federal Government to identity of Aboriginal people in McDonald Tjangala’s Four Lingiari Art Award, ‘Our Country – make laws for Aboriginal people Central Australia and the works in Dreamings refers to four sacred True Story’. The acknowledgement and to include us in the census. this exhibition start from this place sites that run between Docker River of Aboriginal sovereignty and the Unfortunately, and surprisingly to – telling true stories about our and Kata Tjuta – his father’s travels truth of our colonial history are the many, the Australian Government country. between these four sites brought fundamental building blocks of a led by Malcolm Turnbull at the him into contact with the ill-fated better future for our nation and time, rejected the Uluru Statement The artists in this exhibition speak gold explorer Lasseter. Judith all its people. out of hand. to the audience through a range of Yinyika Chambers, Cutting of the mediums from canvas to artefact, Road tells of the many unheard of In 2016 the inaugural Vincent The Uluru Statement from the sculpture to video installation, stories where Aboriginal men, Lingiari Art Award, ‘Our Land Our Heart is a canvas on which all about their country. They continue women and children have Life Our Future’, celebrated two Australians can collaborate to this ages old tradition of visually contributed much hard labour to momentus achievements; the 50th paint a new future, a true future expressing and asserting what is ‘develop’ country. Nellie Patterson’s anniversary of the Wave Hill Walk that heals and recognises that this important to them through their Ulurunya (Uluru Sacred Site) is a Off led by the award’s namesake, continent is, was and will always art. timely reminder to those that Gurinjdi leader Vincent Lingiari and; be Our Country – True Story. The oppose Anangu sovereignty. the 40th anniversary of the Land NAIDOC theme calls for us to Aboriginal artists are story tellers, It is with great pride that Desart in Rights (NT) Act. ‘work together’ showing us that they speak the truth of this country partnership with the Central Land when we do, great things can be as evidenced by the use of art in Council and Tangentyere Artists is One year later in 2017 at a achieved. But there is a long way determining successful land claims able to once again represent the constitutional convention held in to go as the rejection of the Uluru and native title claims. The Vincent voice of these artists through these the heart of the Australian Statement demonstrates. Lingiari Art Award provides a powerful works. Just as it has landscape, over 250 Aboriginal and platform for artists to explore always been, art will continue to Torres Strait Islander leaders met Aboriginal artists from Central traditional and contemporary be the voice and the truth for on Anangu land and developed the Australian desert art centres, as you issues. The artists of Ampilatwatja, Aboriginal people. Uluru Statement from the Heart will see from the works presented Kathleen Nanima Rambler and asking for two reforms; that a First in this exhibition, maintain a Denise Ngwarraye Bonney paint Philip Watkins Nations Voice be enshrined in the continuum of truth telling about their father’s and grandmother’s Chief Executive Officer Constitution and; a Makarrata country while the debates about country, demonstrating the lineage Desart Commission which would supervise recognition and sovereignty take of land tenure. Hubert Pareroultja’s processes of ‘agreement-making’ place all around them. watercolour on silk speaks to the and ‘truth-telling’ between Caterpillar Dreaming (Tjoritja/West Kathleen Nanima Rambler To Kathleen Rambler the truth of Rambler has aunts who were part My Father's Country at Sunrise (2019) her country is in its landscapes and of the Utopia batik movement of light, the one solid under foot, the the 1970s and 80s. As a child, she Acrylic on linen other changing with the day but watched them work. The sky in her 183cm x 152cm consistently profound. entry seems to draw inspiration Artists of Ampilatwatja from that too. Now from Ampilatwatja but originally from Barrow Creek, Rambler’s work has been part of Rambler is a keen observer of the 32 group exhibitions, in the NT, plays of light on the land. Of her interstate and overseas, and is part entry, My Father’s Country at of a collection in Shanghai, China. Sunrise, she says: “This is where I grew up. When we would go hunting, we always climbed those hills and took photos. Sunrise and sunset are my favourite times of day. The sky is always so beautiful.” Denise Ngwarraye Bonney Ampilitwatja artist Denise Bonney Bonney is a senior member of the Joseph Williams Country rings true in Joseph The objects are facing in four My Grandmother's Country (2019) knows her country intimately from Artists of Ampilatwatja group. Her Manu (2019) Williams’ entry Manu, with the directions: kajunu (North), kakurru hunting it, and from finding its work has been part of 19 group sound of clapping boomerangs (East) kankurru (South) karu (West) Acrylic on linen Multi media , , hidden water. To her, the land exhibitions in the Territory and as far as a scene pans across the land. of manu and the boundaries of 183cm x 153cm 184cmx 225cm x 253cm , conveys this most material truth. as Seoul, South Korea and Freiburg in Wumpurani Karrinyi (Aboriginal multi media; wood artefacts The artist explains his multi-media Artists of Ampilatwatja Germany. She was awarded the King people) of this manu. She says of her entry My and video projection entry, featuring objects like & Wood Mallesons Contemporary Grandmother’s Country: “This is my boomerangs themselves, their These objects are multipurpose ATSI Art Prize in NSW last year. Barkly Regional Arts mother’s mother’s country, out near images projected, as well as their tools and very special to anyungku Canteen Creek, where we go pulse accompanying the scene (us). The colours are from manu: hunting for wild onions, goannas, across the land: “Ajjiinyi Manu, wumpurani (black), wirringkiri echidnas and sugar bag honey in the Ajjinyi Apparr" (my country, my (yellow), palamiri (white), apanjarra trees. I like to hunt in my country; story). (red).” there is water all year round even if it Yuwala (wood) I collected from Williams is a carver from Tennant looks dry. We follow the bird tracks manu (country) nearby my nguraji Creek, carving but also reinventing to know where to dig and then we (home) Tennant Creek. These traditional objects such as find water. This painting is after rain; yuwala (trees) are special and have boomerangs. His work has been in many grasses are out, but the wini (names) in ajjinyi appar (my three group exhibitions. riverbed is still sandy.” language) Warumungu. Hayley Panangka Coulthard How do you tell a story in clay, However, her entry here, Beth Mbitjana Inkamala “When I paint this land, I think Inkamala watched her aunties Titjarritjarra (Willy Wagtail true or otherwise? Titjarritjarra, is of country, her West MacDonnell Ranges (2019) about how it was formed and how working with clay in the 1990s. Dreaming) (2019) grandfather’s country: Palm Valley, it feels when I walk over it,” says From 2014, she’s helped facilitate Just ask Hayley Coulthard. The Terracotta and underglaze near Hermannsburg. And its Hermannsburg potter Beth the ‘pots that tell stories’ program Terracotta and underglaze Hermannsburg potter is renowned 52cm x 36cm x 36cm Dreaming by that name, Willy Inkamala. “I know every mountain at Hermannsburg school. She’s now 30cm x 25cm x 25cm – and acclaimed – for her AFL footy Wagtail. Says Coulthard: “She flies Hermannsburg Potters and every gorge has a story about chairperson of Hermannsburg pots. Her pot titled St Kilda versus Hermannsburg Potters around all the country and rests in how you travel and how you Potters. Collingwood was acquired by the Palm Valley, turned to rock. Today connect with it.” Art Gallery of South Australia in She has exhibited in 18 group we still visit the rock. Sometimes 2011. And in 2016 her work was part In these ways, Inkamala is the exhibitions, including the 2017 we get bush medicine there. of a National Gallery of Victoria conduit between the truth or National Aboriginal and Torres Because of this rock, we call this exhibition commissioned to tell – essence of her country and her Strait Islander Art Awards finalists’ place Titjarritjarra.” in pots – footy’s history in pots, hand-coiled and painted in exhibition. And her work is in the Hermannsburg. Coulthard’s work has been in some her distinctive style. Her entry National Gallery of Victoria 38 group exhibitions and is in West MacDonnell Ranges is a case collection. collections of the National Gallery in point, the ranges rippling across of Victoria and the National Portrait the pot surface. Gallery, as well as the Art Gallery of SA. Eileen Anyama Napaltjarri Eileen Anyama Napaltjarri’s entry Napaltjarri herself moved west with Eunice Napanangka Jack The widely acclaimed artist Eunice painted them too. I know the story Tjitjurrulnga Tali (2019) Tjitjurrulnga Tali is simultaneously her family and others to the newly Kuruyultu (2019) Napanangka Jack permanently of the wallaby which left me with abstract and as true a picture of established Kintore in the early wears the story of her country, a birthmark. That’s what I paint.” Acrylic on Belgian linen Acrylic on Belgian linen country as aerial photography can 1980s. There she learnt to paint as well as painting it in her entry 77.5cm x 88.5cm 101.5cm x 122cm Jack has held 11 solo exhibitions, be. It is rich with story. watching her parents. Kuruyultu. It’s true. She explains: joined 162 group exhibitions Ikuntji Artists Ikuntji Artists It is of her father’s country beyond Napaltjarri has gone on to win the “I can’t remember how it all worldwide, been collected in Kintore rendered in long rows of Redlands Westpac Art Prize happened, because it happened 14 collections and a finalist in sand hills forming rhythmic waves Emerging Artist award in 2005, before I was born. I have a scar on 18 art awards including five times in across the canvas. Occasionally the exhibit in 22 group exhibitions and my back from it. My grandfather the Telstra National Aboriginal and rows open out then converge again one solo show and have her work speared a wallaby at Kuruyultu. Torres Strait Islander Art Award or at a desert water source like the join three collections including the That night he ate the wallaby. At its predecessor national award. rockhole at Tjitjurrulnga. National Gallery of Australia’s. the same time my heavily pregnant mother could feel me moving inside The Tjukurrpa (dreaming) for her. The next morning, after my Tjitjurrulnga is ice (little frost stars). grandfather had speared the It is also the story of men and wallaby, killed and eaten it, I was women travelling from Yuendumu born. Only my father knows all the community to Tjitjurrulnga, just as stories for that country, and he Hubert Pareroultja Hubert Pareroultja’s entry Across the river is a piece of the Keturah Zimran One meaning of the phrase ‘solid as for rumiya (goanna) and to collect Caterpillar Dreaming (or Tjoritja/ Caterpiller Dreaming, in the caterpillar that got chopped off in Puli Puli – Rocks (2019) a rock’ is: reliable or trustworthy. ipalo (bush banana) and mangarda West MacDonnell Ranges, Central Hermannsburg School watercolour the battle.” In essence: true. (bush tomato). Australia) (2019) style, is a window into where and Acrylic on Belgian linen Pareroultja learnt to paint as a kid how that Dreaming story intersects 93cm x 153cm The subject of Keturah Zimran’s Her striking use of colour follows Watercolour on silk watching the famous Albert with the built reality of Alice paintings is frequently rock the ways different rocks change hue mounted on lightbox Namatjira. His work is in the Ikuntji Artists Springs. Says Pareroultja: “I painted formations or puli puli. And in her with the weather and time of day. 71cm x 137cm x 4cm National Gallery of Australia and the Western MacDonnell Ranges entry, Puli Puli – Rocks, their solidity two state/territory gallery Zimran’s work has appeared in Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art behind Ellery Creek Big Hole. It’s on is pronounced. collections. It’s been in 34 group three solo exhibitions, 63 group Centre the Caterpillar track. They (the exhibitions, three solo exhibitions Zimran paints rock formations exhibitions, and is part of five caterpillars) came through the and three times a Telstra National around her home of Haasts Bluff collections. It earned her the Warlpiri town camp north of town. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in particular, with an affinity based Moreton Bay Art Award and an They moved through Mparntwe Art Award finalist. on memory as much as proximity, artist-in-residence in 2017. (Alice Springs) almost along where memory of the nutritional richness the train tracks are now, towards the rocks concealed. She the hospital. Next to the Todd River remembers going hunting there as they ran into another mob with a a child, for tjilkamada (porcupine) different language. They fought. found hiding amongst the rocks, Mervyn Rubuntja “When I go outside on my His broad knowledge of historical, David Frank Painter and former policeman Frank’s highly figurative works Rwetyepme/Mt Sonder, Central homeland and look west this is cultural, environmental and social Itjinpiri 1981 (2019) David Frank’s entry Itjinpiri 1981 create narratives that reflect history Australia (2019) the view I see, Mt Sonder,” says the issues informs that role and remembers when, at Itjinpiri and his career and experiences as Acrylic on linen artist Mervyn Rubuntja of his entry underpins his artistic practice. near Ernabella, the then South a policeman and ngangkari Watercolour on silk 41cm x 61cm Rwetyepme/Mt Sonder, Central Australian Premier David Tonkin (traditional healer). They have been mounted on lightbox It’s a practice that has seen Australia. Indeed to many in Central Iwantja Art handed freehold title to 102,630 in 20 group exhibitions and one solo 71cm x 137cm x 4cm Rubuntja’s artwork in 48 group Australia this mountain is as true a square kilometres of land to its show. He has been shortlisted three exhibitions, in the NT, interstate Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art reference point as any you will find. traditional owners under the times for the Telstra National and overseas, and eight collections Centre Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act, 1981. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rubuntja’s scope widens and including at the National Museum Art Award. deepens to take in land more of Australia. He is the Director of Now based at Indulkana in northern generally in the centre, its people Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art SA, Frank recalls witnessing this and its protection. “As a leader in Centre based in Alice Springs. historic moment: “This painting is my community I have a busy life about the country here, the APY protecting my people and my land,” Lands. At Itjinpiri this whitefella is he says. giving the paper to the tjilpi (senior law man) to say that this is Anangu Manta (Aboriginal Land) - this is all yours.” Malya Teamay Malya Teamay’s entry Broken Law The painting then shows Panjiti McKenzie and The Dreaming story behind the Creating this entry is therefore an Broken Law (2015) depicts some harsh truths about reconciliation of Anangu and non- Roy Yaltjanki entry Ngintaka is held to be true expression of caring for country colonisation, but also the artist’s Anangu finding solutions in open largely because of the sustenance for wife and husband punu Acrylic on canvas Ngintaka (2019) optimism about reconciliation. discussion and mutual respect. it is said to give the land and its (woodcarving) artists Panjiti 120cm x 150cm Itara – River Red Gum In this way, Teamay suggests, people. McKenzie OAM and Roy Yaltjanki. Part of the painting illustrates 20.5cm x 19.3cm x 147cm Maruku Arts the Tjukurpa will be strong and pre-contact life in the desert. Here It’s the story of Ngintaka or Perentie Painter, punu, batik and tjanpi protective again and the land saved. Maruku Arts the Tjukurpa (Dreaming) and way of Man who embarks on a journey to artist, McKenzie’s work has been in life, their links in country and kin, Saving land is familiar territory to find a better grindstone for his wife, 18 group exhibitions and is in three are shown by the strong, unbroken the artist. Teamay is an inaugural to replace the poor one they were collections, including in the Art black line. member of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta using to grind wild pigweed. While Gallery of South Australia, and two National Park board of joint travelling, he created many commissions. Painter and punu Upon colonisation, there are rapes, management. His painting is on the landforms and vomited up many artist Yaltjanki’s work has joined alcohol is introduced and the Park entrance ticket and in galleries different kinds of grass seeds and 10 group exhibitions. children of alcoholics take to petrol. nationally. vegetables foods. The story is of The strong black line is broken. profound importance for food resource creation in Anangu culture. Noreen Parker The 1984-85 Royal Commission into There was a big light then so much Carbiene McDonald Carbiene McDonald’s entry Four As a young man, McDonald Emu Field (2019) British nuclear tests in Australia smoke it became like night time. Four Dreamings (2019) Dreamings is framed where retraced his father’s footsteps. during the 1950s and 60s revealed People thought it must be wonambi Aboriginal mythology meets The memories stay with him vividly Acrylic on found object Acrylic on canvas to the world the dark truth of these (rainbow serpent) coming from the non-Aboriginal exploration history. today, emerging in his painting. 60cm x 60cm 198cm x 122cm tests’ impact on Maralinga and Emu north. They were very frightened It depicts four Dreaming stories His paintings have been in two The Minyma Kutjara Arts Project Field and the people of this country and hid in their wiltjas. Many were Papunya Tjupi Arts associated with a series of group exhibitions, including one in remote South Australia. Noreen hurt and died. This is a true story waterholes running between in Germany, one solo exhibition Parker’s family knew the impact all from my family.” Docker River and Kata Tjuta. and he is the winner of the 2019 too well: her uncle died during the Specifically, it references four Hadley's Art Prize. testing while out hunting. Her important sites: in the Petermann artwork tells these stories so we Ranges, at Docker River, in Bloods won’t forget. Now from Wingellina Range or Kalaya Murrpu and in very remote Western Australia, Mulyayti near Kata Tjuta. Parker’s entry Emu Field is graphic, to which she adds explanation: McDonald recalls his father walked “My mother and father and families between these sites, crossing paths were living in the bush in their at times with Lasseter, the ill-fated wiltjas when they heard a big noise. explorer of that remote part of Central Australia, and his camels. Charlie Tjapangati To many Aboriginal people there is Their travels and adventures are Doris Thomas The truth of the story in Doris behind. It’s a part of the Iterrkewarre Pirrinya (2019) no greater truth than the Dreaming. enshrined in song cycles that still Family Camp, Deep Well Station Thomas’s entry is evident in its Tjukurpa that ends up down at Dreaming stories are true in their form part of the teachings to (2019) detail. The country is literally Chambers Pillar.” Acrylic on linen structuring of group relationships, post-initiation youths today.” imprinted on her. She says of her 91cm x 91cm Acrylic on linen Experienced in fabric painting, lore and connections to country entry Family Camp, Deep Well Born in approximately 1949, 68cm x 68cm carving, pottery and painting, Artists Pty Ltd frequently portrayed in art. From Station, where she was born: Tjapangati has exhibited in nearly Thomas has exhibited in over Kiwirrkurra in very remote Western Tangentyere Artists “My grandmother is holding me. 80 group exhibitions and several 50 group exhibitions in the NT Australia, Charlie Tjapangati’s entry I’ve just been born. Mum brought solo shows in the NT, interstate and interstate. Her art is in four Pirrinya exemplifies this. He explains this white lady to see me. My and overseas. His works are in collections, including overseas. in translation: “This painting depicts stepfather is there wearing the 11 collections also interstate and Pirrinya, a swamp site north­west of lavender shirt and cowboy hat. overseas, including in the National Jupiter Well in WA. A large group All the family is around us. We Gallery of Australia. of Tingari men camped here before lived in humpies. We used travelling to Lake Mackay. The 44 gallon drums for rubbish, Tingari are ancestral beings of the painted beside each humpy. We Dreaming who travelled over vast stored water from the well, the stretches of the country, buckets hanging in the painting. performing rituals and creating I’ve got a birth mark on my face and shaping particular sites. representing the rocky outcrop Margaret Smith and Tjanpi artists Smith and Anderson The children riding the camel in Charmaine Kulitja Just as maps are considered a true The yellow squares mark places Julie Anderson say “tjanpi is the way we tell our this work is one of Smith’s strong Ngayuku Ngura (My homeland) description of country, so too is of great importance to the artist, Kungka kutjara Tjanpi palyanyi truths and remember.” childhood memories. (2019) emerging artist Charmaine Kulitja’s while the other squares signify ngurra wiru (two women making entry Ngayuku Ngura. To her it’s a strong, connected communities And what is truer to us than “Making tjanpi helps us tell stories Acrylic on canvas Tjanpi on lovely country) (2019) painting of “strong community who generally. Above Mutitjulu, Kulitja self-portraits? to share with everyone, and so we 76cm x 122cm share stories of Tjukurpa, my family has connected Ranger Tjuta, or Tjanpi (wild harvested grass) with can keep them strong in our minds,” Tjanpi, meaning ‘dry grass’, now Walkatjara Art roads and national park roads.” ‘rangerville’, where the national raffia, cotton fabric, ininti seeds the artists say. also means baskets and That is, a map and more. park rangers live. and gumnuts made from it. In this entry, one Smith has exhibited in seven group Each circle represents a location “Above rangerville is Amata; family 56cm x 110cm x 48cm form references the other, plus the exhibitions. Anderson made her significant to the artist and her there,” she says. “This road quick Tjanpi Desert Weavers history of this art and the first tjanpi basket last year under family. Uppermost is Kulpijara, way to get there. We using one road organisation behind it, as well as Smith’s guidance after moving to her artist mother’s homeland. to sit down together.” portraying the artists themselves. Alice Springs for renal dialysis. Then down the map is Kaltijinda “Baskets are how we learnt to (in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park). weave and how Tjanpi Desert Weavers got started,” say the On down and to the left is makers of Kungka kutjara Tjanpi Mutitjulu, with a yellow square like palyanyi ngurra wiru (two women Kulpijara and flanked further to making Tjanpi on lovely country). the left by orange sand dunes. Dulcie Moneymoon Emerging artist Dulcie There (in the painting) is the little Nellie Patterson Elder Nellie Patterson’s entry “This is the rock known as Uluru, Papa Tjukurpa (2019) Moneymoon’s account of her creek and the Papas (dogs). This is Ulurunya (Uluru Sacred Site) (2019) Ulurunya (Uluru Sacred Site), her our home with its powerful law. entry Papa Tjukurpa recalls the all the story he told us, the only explanation of and reason for it, We do our paintings at the Culture Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas transmission of its story from place about it he can tell us. It’s speak in no uncertain terms. Centre there so tourists can learn 51cm x 122cm 61cm x 76cm generation to generation. And (otherwise) a special story that “Nyangatja puli Ulurunya, nganampa about our country, understand and Walkatjara Art hints that there is only so much I don’t share here. The Papas are Walkatjara Art ngura Tjukurpa pulka tjara. Kala respect it. That is all.” painting tjuta palyalpai-amilapai Dreaming truth or meaning that different colours, some orange, True story. can go in such public displays, with some brown. We lay by the creek Culture Centre-ngka, minga tjuta some necessarily remaining secret, and he told us the story.” nganampa nguraku nintiringkula ‘special’. kulintjaku,” says the widely exhibited Patterson. Mutitjulu-based Moneymoon explains the story is her grand- father’s Dreaming or Tjukurpa: “My Fathers father. His name is Glen Moneymoon. We used to all camp there, me, my sisters, all of us together, his homeland not far from Kaltukatjara (Docker River). Judith Yinyika Chambers Remote Aboriginal mobility is Chambers has been involved with Marlene Rubuntja Marlene Rubuntja’s entry My It might sound funny and this Cutting of the Road (2019) legendary, but the story of Warakurna Artists since 2006 and My Father’s Country (2019) Father’s Country tells her father’s sculpture might make you laugh but Aboriginal people actually cutting serves as a member of its executive. true story with both humour and it makes me sad when I think about Acrylic on canvas Mixed media soft and hard the roads through their country is As well as painting, she makes grass pathos. my father and those tin sheds.” 76.2cm x 152.4cm sculpture one seldom heard. Judith Chambers (tjanpi) and fibre baskets and 44cm x 57cm x 34cm Her artist father Wenten Rubuntja Winner of the inaugural Vincent Warakurna Artists knows it because her family did it. sculpture. She has exhibited in over famously fought for Aboriginal Lingiari Art Award, Marlene Her entry Cutting the Road depicts 30 group exhibitions and her work is Yarrenyty Arltere Artists people’s right to settle Alice Springs Rubuntja’s work has twice been a the making of a new road linking in the National Museum of town camps. She regrets he was finalist in the Telstra National Warburton to Warakurna more Australia, National Gallery of rewarded with three tin sheds on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander directly than had roads made by the Victoria and Western Australia his country, too hard for him to Art Award, is in eight public more well-known road maker Len Museum collections. live in. collections including the Art Gallery Beadell. Judith’s family was among of NSW and been in 78 group many who worked on this road in Says Marlene: “You know I was exhibitions including the very remote Western Australia. talking about this story in the art Biennale. With just one tractor and axes, the room and old Trudy Inkamala said, men chopped the trees to clear a ‘I went there and you know what, path and the women and children there was only emus and kangaroos chopped and burnt the stumps. living in those tin sheds, true story.’ Central Land Council Tangentyere Artists

The Central Land Council is a Commonwealth In February 1973 the Commonwealth set up a Royal ‘Relha ntjaarraka kangkentge urrkaapuma pmara The art centre mission is to provide innovative, effective corporate entity. The CLC operates under the Aboriginal Commission under Mr Justice Woodward to inquire into Tangentyere Artists.’ and sustainable art programs that foster and support Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and it is also a how land rights might be achieved in the Northern the aspirations and decisions of town camp people. Native Title Representative Body under the Native Title Territory. The commissioner’s first report in July 1973 [The many ladies are proud working together at As a not-for-profit organisation, Tangentyere Artists Act 1993. recommended that a Central and a Northern Land Tangentyere Artists] return one hundred percent of proceeds to the artists Council be established in order to present to him the and their services. The CLC covers an area of 750,000 square kilometres in views of Aboriginal people. Statement (in Western Arrernte) by the artists of the southern half of the Northern Territory. In the CLC’s Tangentyere about Tangentyere Artists Art Centre. As Jane Young, East Arrernte woman, Chair of Desart, region, traditional Aboriginal landowners own more After considering Justice Woodward’s final report, the town camp resident and artist, who commenced than 400,000 square kilometres of Aboriginal freehold Whitlam Labor government drew up a Land Rights Bill, Tangentyere Artists are part of Tangentyere Council in painting with Tangentyere Artists in 2005, explains: land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. This represents but was dismissed before the law was passed. Alice Springs. The Council was established in the 1970s more than half of the almost 780,000 square kilometres for and by Aboriginal people, and is now the primary ‘Everyone knows Tangentyere Council, and because it’s of land covered by the CLC. The Australian Parliament eventually passed the service provider for 18 Alice Springs housing Aboriginal owned and directed, everyone trusts Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 on associations, known as town camps. Tangentyere Council, so they wanted their art centre to be The CLC is governed by 90 Aboriginal people elected the 16th December 1976 and the law came into a part of Tangentyere. It was the best thing, you know? from communities in the southern half of the operation on 26th January 1977. Many Aboriginal Alice Springs residents longed for an It was the right place for all of us – we are all welcome Northern Territory. While the legislation governing art centre to call their own, to challenge the private here: all cultural groups, all languages, all the people!’ the CLC is only for the Northern Territory, many of the It transferred title to most of the Aboriginal reserve dealers and carpet baggers plaguing the town. CLC's constituents’ traditional country extends across lands in the Northern Territory to its traditional owners ‘Now, Tangentyere Artists means Town Camp artists state borders. and gave other traditional land owners the opportunity Tangentyere Council’s art service was first established are learning new things every day, and at the same time, to claim land not already owned, leased or being used in 2005, initially providing targeted skills development keeping their culture strong.’ The CLC traces its origins to the history of the by someone else. The major townships in the region, workshops and some outreach services across a range Aboriginal struggle for justice and their rights to their Alice Springs and Tennant Creek where excluded. of town camps. Through the Tangentyere Council www.tangentyereartists.org.au traditional land. Executive, town camp residents were striving for a full Today Aboriginal people own almost half of the land time art centre to meet their needs. This history includes the famous strike and Walk Off in the Northern Territory. by the Gurindji families at Wave Hill cattle station in Today, with a purpose built gallery, studio and 1966. The strike drew international attention to the www.clc.org.au administration, and a professional development dispossession and disadvantage of Aboriginal people program, Tangentyere Artists is the hub for arts in the Northern Territory. activities across Alice Springs town camps.

Desart

Desart is the Association of Central Australian Desart is a collective voice for Central Australian Aboriginal Arts and Craft Centres. Established in 1992, Aboriginal art centres on matters of shared interest and incorporated in 1993, it now has 34 independently and delivers programs to members that support the governed Aboriginal art and craft centres as members, development and maintenance of strong governance, who in turn collectively represent approximately 8000 administration and infrastructure. It prioritises Aboriginal artists. opportunities for its membership to promote their art and crafts locally, nationally and internationally and to Desart is directed by a 10 member Aboriginal further their ability to remain autonomous and executive committee elected from its art centre sustainable Aboriginal businesses. members. Desart’s region of operations cover an area of 1221 million square kilometres extending from the Desart’s programs and services recognise art centres southern part of the Northern Territory into the are a vital part of community life in remote central Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) region of Australia and its mission is to provide support so they South Australia and into the Ngaanyatjarra region of grow and remain stronger for art, for culture and for Western Australia. country.

www.desart.com.au Acknowledgements

Desart and the Central Land Council would like to thank the following people for their support with the Vincent Lingiari Art Award and Our Country – True Story exhibition. Heath Aarons, Georges Bureau, Sammy Butcher, Bianca Cadd, Jasper Coleman, Tony Collins, Emma Collard, Josie Douglas, Will Foster, Claire Freer, Caroline Hunter, David Jagger, Joe Marin-Jard, Francis Kelly, Peter Kittle, Ruth McMillan, Sue O’Conner, Heven Osborne, Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, Ken Ramsay, Marie Rancon, Lauren Ravi, Nisa Richy, David Ross, Dr Chrischona Schmidt, Clive Scollay, Annieka Skinner, Paul Sweeney, Will Tennent, Sophie Wallace, Gabrielle Wallington, Sammy Wilson, Philip Watkins, Penny Watson, Lianne Wendt, Koren Wheatley, Elke Wiseman, Michelle Young, Carmel Young, Nina Young and Vincent Lingiari’s family.

Artists of Ampilatwatja Barkly Regional Arts Hermannsburg Potters [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.ampilatwatja.com www.barklyarts.com.au www.hermannsburgpotters.com.au 0437 426 549 08 8962 2799 08 8956 7414

Ikuntji Artists Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre Iwantja Arts [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.ikuntji.com.au www.manyhandsart.com.au www.iwantjaarts.com.au 08 8956 8783 08 7979 3452 08 8670 7722

Maruku Arts & Crafts Minyma Kutjara Arts Project Papunya Tjupi Art [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.maruku.com.au www.tjupiarts.com.au 08 8956 2153 08 8964 7141

Papunya Tula Artists Tangentyere Artists Walkatjara Art [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.papunyatula.com.au www.tangentyereartists.org.au www.walkatjara.com 08 8952 4731 08 8951 4232 08 8956 2537

Warakurna Artists Yarrenyty Arltere [email protected] [email protected] www.warakurnaartists.com.au www.yarrenytyarltereartists.com.au 08 8955 4488 0488 656 694