The land he was sold was on a flood plain and was unsuitable for building. on a car seat, where a clan brother and fellow Hermannsburg artist Henoch Raberaba, could get access to it. It’s not the best way to show the complex relationship we share in our family. Keith Namatjira was sixteen when he accompanied his father, Albert Namatjira, to Canberra in early 1954 when Albert was presented to Queen Elizabeth II by Cabinet Minister Paul Hasluck. Namatjira’s father’s country lay towards Mount Sonder and Glen Helen Gorge, in the MacDonnell Ranges, and his mother’s country was in the region of Palm Valley in Central Australia. In 1928 he was ostracised for several years in which he worked as a camel driver and saw much of Central Australia, which he was later to depict in his paintings. Namatjira was charged with leaving a bottle of rum in a place, i.e. His plight became a media cause célèbre, resulting in a wave of public outrage. He then tried to build a house in Alice Springs, but was cheated in his land dealings. [citation needed], His unique style of painting was denounced soon after his death by some critics as being a product of his assimilation into western culture, rather than his own connection to his subject matter or his natural style. After being transferred to Alice Springs hospital, Namatjira astonished his mentor Rex Battarbee by presenting him with three landscapes, with a promise of more to come; a promise unrealised. It was then against the law to supply alcohol to an Aboriginal person. Painting in the European watercolour style he quickly became a celebrity and was able, at the peak of his fame and artistic power, to financially support huge numbers of close and distant family; a number estimated at around 600 during his life. Before missionary times and first contact, our people had traditional names and a kinship system. [31][32], On 28 July 2017, Google commemorated Namatjira's 115th birthday with a featured Doodle for Australian users, acknowledging his substantial contributions to the art and culture of Australia.[33]. to get notified about our new artworks, exhibitions and sales. Other tributes include John Williamson's "Raining on the Rock" from his 1986 album Mallee Boy and "The Camel Boy" from Chandelier of Stars (2005); "Albert Namatjira" by the Australian band Not Drowning, Waving, featured on their 1993 album, Circus, and Midnight Oil's song "Truganini" of the same year; the famous patriotic song "I Am Australian"; Archie Roach's song, "Native Born"; and the reconciliation song, "Namatjira", written by Geoff Drummond and included on the politically activist album, The Chess Set released by Pat Drummond in 2004. The Art Gallery of New South Wales now displays a number of Namatjira's work,[11] although Hal Missingham, then Director of the gallery, initially rejected his work, saying: "We'll consider his work when it comes up to scratch". Family connections – by Marisa Maher All the artists that work here at the Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands art centre are connected to Albert Namatjira. [17], The Namatjira Project was a community cultural development project launched in 2009 that included an award-winning theatre production by Big hART focusing on Namatjira's life and work. [21], Namatjira has been the subject of numerous songs. These two people used chalk to show the desert landscape of their people on a huge backdrop. [22], Namatjira was honoured on postage stamps issued by Australia Post in 1968,[23] again in 1993 with examples of his work,[24][25] and in the Namatjira Centenary stamp series in 2002. Country star Slim Dusty was the first artist to record a tribute song, "Namatjira", in the 1960s, and Rick and Thel Carey followed up with their tribute "The Stairs That Namatjira Climbed" in 1963. Henoch was a good friend of Albert Namatjira. Queen Elizabeth II became one of his more notable fans and he was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal in 1953 and met her in Canberra in 1954. [1], He became the first prominent Aboriginal artist to work in a contemporary western style, and thus regarded as an example of assimilation. [29] In 2015, the Twin Gums site was again nominated for heritage listing. Henoch Raberaba was the ‘tribal brother’ to whom Albert Namatjira, was convicted, as a non-Ward, for supplying alcohol. [1], Namatjira was introduced to western-style painting through an exhibition by two painters from Melbourne, Rex Battarbee and John Gardner, at his mission in 1934. Namatjira was the first Northern Territory Aboriginal person to be freed from restrictions that made Aboriginal people wards of the State, when in 1957, he was granted restricted Australian citizenship, giving him the right to vote, have limited land rights and buy alcohol. Many of these practices are still being followed by the next generation, like myself. His landscapes normally highlighted both the rugged geological features of the land in the background, and the distinctive Australian flora in the foreground with very old, stately and majestic white gum trees surrounded by twisted scrub. [1], In 1937 Friedrich Albrecht, superintendent of Hermannsburg, took ten of Namatjira's watercolours with him to a Lutheran conference at Nuriootpa, South Australia, and Battarbee put three of his paintings in an exhibition with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts in Adelaide.