1. Carrolup: Child Artists, Noongar Identity and World Heritage
John Stanton
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2. It was a very emotional moment, particularly for Noongar people, when the public saw the Koorah Coolingah exhibition of artwork by the Aboriginal children of Carrolup. There was a mixture of pride and sadness, sadness that all but one of the Child artists had passed on. [Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia]
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3. This was the first time that the ‘lost’ Florence Rutter collection of artworks had been on Noongar boodja, Noongar land, in 55 years.
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4. The Opening of the Koorah Coolingah exhibition at Katanning in 2006 for the Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) was a moving recognition of the Carrolup child artists, and the crowning achievement of 27 years of research. This is now continuing, in a new phase.
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5. Thousands of people from across the South-West flooded into Katanning to see the ‘lost’ artworks that had been found in 2004 by Howard Morphy at Colgate University, upstate New York.
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6. In 2005, Athol Farmer and Ezzard Flowers had accompanied me to Colgate University, to select artworks to borrow for the PIAF exhibition, Koorah Coolingah.
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7. Howard Morphy and Ezzard Flowers inspect the painting that Athol Farmer brought from Katanning to give to the President of Colgate University, Rebecca Chopp, 12th April Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia.
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8. But let’s go back to the beginning of this story, this journey, that I somehow was a part of, 40 years ago. This was a journey of discovery, Noongar and Wedjela (White) side by side. A shared quest to tell Australia about the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup and to re-write Australian art history.
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9. Location
Carrolup, known today as Marribank, is 320km south-east of Perth, near Katanning.
Carrolup Native Settlement was one of two institutions in the South-West operated by the then Department of Native Affairs; the other was Moore River Native Settlement (Mogumber).
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10.
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11. Reputation Carrolup is now widely known for its Noongar child art of the late 1940s and early 1950s, created by children aged between 8 and 14 years old. But this was not always the case; indeed, wider knowledge of it was almost forgotten. But Noongars kept the story alive—and so did an Anthropologist.
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12. Noel White made the School a safe place for the children
Noel White made the School a safe place for the children. These were part of the Stolen Generations, suffering from trauma and despair. The Settlement was in every sense a ‘concentration camp’.
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13. Yet out of this setting emerged a joy for living expressed by the children through their art. The children depicted their world outside the Settlement. The trees, the animals, and most importantly, the ceremonial life still maintained.
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14. The children’s art may be considered an act of subversion against the permeating control that the Department of Native Welfare exerted over every aspect of their lives. It is an assertion of place, a declaration of ownership, and an affirmation of empowerment.
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15. The children of Carrolup in their schoolroom with the White family and visitors from Katanning. Photographer: Noelene White, late 1948 or early Noel & Lily White Collection.
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16.
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17. Timeline
Katanning fringe-dwellers forceably relocated to Carrolup Pool (1915)
Carrolup Native Settlement established (1915)
Carrolup closed (1922)
Carrolup reopened (1940)
Noel White appointed (1946)
Exhibition at Katanning Show (1946)
Exhibition at Boans, Perth (1947)
Demonstration of art technique at Albany (1948)
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18. Timeline Florence Rutter first visits Carrolup (1949)
Girls sent to Roelands and Wandaring Missions (1949)
Florence Rutter meets with Commissioner Middleton (1950)
Children’s artworks published in Illustrated London News (1950)
Commissioner Middleton closes Carrolup School (1950)
Florence Rutter forced by penury to sell her private collection , and remaining works, to Herbert Mayer of New York (1956)
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19. Timeline
I first encounter Carrolup paintings in corridor of UWA Department of Anthropology (1977)
Ron Berndt and I write an article for Art in Australia that mentions Carrolup art (1979)
Pat Nunn, social worker at Marribank Family Centre, asks me to assist her to develop an exhibition for NADOC, Katanning Town Hall (1985)
Community Meeting creates Committee for Carrolup Project (1986)
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20. Timeline
Committee applies for funding from the Australian Bicentennial Authority, receives more than requested, to: -
Employ two Project trainees (1986-7)
Create a Cultural Centre (1987-8)
Make a documentary film (1989)
Develop a national travelling exhibition through the Berndt Museum, then called the Anthropology Research Museum (1992)
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21. Trainees Tina Hansen (left) and Cora Farmer (right) videotape one of the early examples of Carrolup children's art held in the Berndt Museum for a film that was being made by John Stanton for the Marribank Community. Uniview, The University of Western Australia, 5/4, pp. 1-2, July 1986.
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22. Donation
The renamed Berndt Museum of Anthropology receives a major donation of 150 Carrolup artworks from Stan and Gael Phillips in memory of Gael’s mother Melvie who had recently passed away (1991)
Much of this collection was included in the exhibition Nyungar Landscapes (1992), which travelled nationally for seven years, and was hung twice at both Bunbury and Geraldton Regional Art Galleries, something hitherto unheard of.
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23. Imagined corroboree by Reynold Hart, watercolour and ink on paper, 25 x 30cm, c Stan, Melvie and Gael Phillips Collection, 1947 – 65, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia. [WU7255]
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24. Dancing figures by Reynold Hart, pastel on paper, 29 x 38cm, 1949
Dancing figures by Reynold Hart, pastel on paper, 29 x 38cm, Stan, Melvie and Gael Phillips Collection, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia. [WU7316]
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25. Hunters by Revel Cooper, pastel on paper, 29 x 38cm, c. 1948
Hunters by Revel Cooper, pastel on paper, 29 x 38cm, c Stan, Melvie and Gael Phillips Collection, 1947 – 65, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia. [WU7304]
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26. Leaning tree by Milton Jackson, pastel on paper, 41 x 33cm, c. 1949
Leaning tree by Milton Jackson, pastel on paper, 41 x 33cm, c Noel & Lily White Collection, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia. [WU7568]
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27. Explorers’ Massacre by Parnell Dempster, 1948, ink and watercolour on paper, 19 x 24cm. Stan, Melvie and Gael Phillips Collection, 1947 – 65, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia. [WU7316]
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28. Golden Sunset by Cliff Ryder, pastel on paper, 18 x 25cm, 1950
Golden Sunset by Cliff Ryder, pastel on paper, 18 x 25cm, Stan, Melvie and Gael Phillips Collection 1947 – 65, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia. [WU7273].
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29. South-West bush scene of eucalypts and blackboys by Revel Cooper, acrylic on paper, 38.5 x 56.5cm, Purchased by R.M. Berndt from George Abdullah Gallery, Perth, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia.
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30. Nyungar Cura Boodjar by Toogar Jerry Morrison, acrylic on paper, 62 x 90cm, Purchased from Kalla Yeedup Gallery. Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia. [WU7827]
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31. Noongar artist Athol Farmer reflects on his role in passing on the culture of Noongar peoples in the South West of Western Australia. Recording was made by John Stanton at Katanning on 28th May [Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia]
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