Lot 54: PADDY TJAMATJI (JAMPIN) , CIRCA 1912-1996 TAWURR THE KANGAROO AT KANMANTURR Natural earth pigments on canvas board

Natural earth pigments on canvas board

45.7 by 61.1 cm

Painted at Warmun (Turkey Creek) circa 1984
Aboriginal Traditional Arts, Perth
Private collection

Cf. For similar images by Paddy Tjamatji see Tawurr the Kangaroo at Kanmanturr,c.1978, from the series of boards used in a Kurirr Kurirr ceremony and now in the collection of the National Museum of Australia, in Taylor, L. (ed.), Painting the Land Story, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 1999, p.31, pl.9; (No title), 1980, in the collection of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, Perth, in Stanton, J. E., Painting the Country: Contemporary Aboriginal art from the Kimberley region, Western Australia, The University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, W.A., 1989, p.35, pl.31; Mythological kangaroo, Kimberley (Elgee Cliffs, Bedford Downs), 1983, and Untitled, c.1987, in the Holmes à Court Collection, in Akerman, K., Paddy Jaminji: 'I bin Paint 'im first', Holmes à Court Gallery, Perth, 2004; and with Rover Thomas, The Dreaming Kangaroo, 1983, in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, in Thomas, R. et al, Roads Cross: The paintings of Rover Thomas, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994, p.34; see also K. Akerman's photograph of a painted board being carried in a 1979 performance of the Kurirr Kurirr in Taylor 1999, p.28

Paddy Tjamatji was the first and leading painter of the boards carried in the performances of the Kurirr Kurirr ceremony belonging to his classificatory nephew Rover Thomas, i.e. the equivalent status of Tjamatji's sister's son. Rover Thomas owned the Dreaming and its associated rituals. The image of Tawurr the Kangaroo ancestor appears on a rock wall at Kanmanturr (Elgee Cliffs) on Bedford Downs Station; the lower half of the painted kangaroo has been eroded over the years, hence it is depicted in the Kurirr Kurirr ritual boards as it appears now. The image relates to the massacre of Aboriginal people on Bedford Downs Station in or around 1924.p.36, pl.32, illus