Watercolour of ceremonial objects, ca. 1954 / possibly drawn by Albert Namatjira

SSV/118

fonds

ca. 1954

Graphic Materials, Watercolours

893367

1 watercolour - 27.9 x 16.8 cm

In 1954, assisted by the Commonwealth Literary Fund, Roland Robinson undertook an expedition to the Northern Territory to "gather and preserve as much of the aborigines' mythology as I could". At Haast's Bluff he met Albert Namatjira (Tonanga). He spent time with Namatjira and the Arranda [i.e. Aranda] recording their myths and stories. Tonanga's parting gift to Robinson was a painting of his "three main ceremonial objects done while we sat in the creek-bed under the ghost-gums with the purple and violet and ochre-red mountain of Haast's Bluff rising out of the spinifex".

Albert Namatjira related three Aranda myths to Robinson which are recorded in his book "The Feathered serpent" - "Erintja the Devil-dog"; "The Eagle-men of Alkutnama"; and "The Old-man and his Six Sons, the Namatuna".

Three sacred and ritual objects are connected with the myth of "Erintja the Devil-dog" - the totem pole Tnatantja; the Tjurunga; and the namatuna (bull-roarer). The bull-roarer is a piece of flat wood, pointed at both ends. A hole in one end is threaded with a length of hair-string. They are twirled in ceremonies making a humming or whistling sound.

References:
The Feathered serpent : the mythological genesis and recreative ritual of the Aboriginal tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia, the Kuppapoingo ... /​ chanted and translated by the old-men of these tribes to Roland Robinson ; with a foreword by T.G.H. Strehlow. Sydney : Edwards &​ Shaw, 1956.
Aranda traditions / T.G.H. Strehlow. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press, 1947.

From the Estate of Gwen Frolich. Mrs Gwen Frolich joined the Rudy Komon Art Gallery in 1961 as Komon's business partner until his death in 1982. The Gallery was then run by Frolich until it was closed in 1984. Reference: Records of the Rudy Komon Art Gallery, MS 8327, National Library of Australia, http://www.nla.gov.au/ (accessed 15 June 2010)

A watercolour depicting three objects, one of which is probably a tnatantja (totem pole). The objects are surrounded by smaller figures of a kangaroo and bee, and small namatuna (bull-roarers).

In copyright: Life of artist plus 70 years.
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Inscribed in pencil on front "Maninbala[?]", "Ngarwul", "Kurraba", and "Karwadi", with arrows pointing to objects. Inscribed in pen "yarramulinya mialli [?]"[?] [i.e. yarramulindji[?]] with arrow pointing to probable tnatantja.

Inscribed in pen on reverse "Reference to this painting is in preface to "The Feathered Serpent". Painted especially for me to illustrate the myth Albert Namatjira (Tonango) told me at Haasts Bluff. Roland Robinson"