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Protect Namatjira Works Against Exploitation

22 November 2002 - Senator Aden Ridgeway - Australian Democrats - Media Release - The Australian Democrats today called on the Australian Government to act to protect the work of artist, Albert Namatjira in a similar vein to the commercial protection afforded the Bradman name.

Speaking at the National Gallery of Australia, Arts and Indigenous Affairs Spokesperson, Senator Aden Ridgeway, said copyright protection of the work of Albert Namatjira is due to expire in 2009, leaving his work without even the limited protections associated with copyright law.

"Two years ago the Prime Minister, Mr Howard personally intervened at the request of the Bradman family to amend the regulations of the Corporations Law to stop commercial exploitation of the Bradman name," said Senator Ridgeway.

"Sir Donald is an exceptional Australian, for whom I have the greatest respect, but will we see the same level of concern shown for other exceptional Australians who have earned their status as national treasures - such as someone of the status of Albert Namatjira?

"Albert Namatjira is a cultural icon, a trailblazer - the first Indigenous visual artist who used Western style painting to express his relationship to his land and his continuing links to it.

"That is why I am calling on the Northern Territory and the Federal Governments to jointly agree to buy back the copyright in Namatjira's works.

"This property right should be held in trust for the Namatjira family - and it should be a right that exists in perpetuity - not the conventional copyright period.

"The Namatjira legacy is a national treasure and it should be treated like one.

"By doing this, we will all be rewarded, because finally we will be showing Albert Namatjira the reverence that he has deserved, and protecting his legacy for future generations," said Senator Ridgeway.

Senator Ridgeway also highlighted the Democrats' longstanding commitment to achieve collective moral rights for Indigenous artists - something the Government and Opposition took up in their Arts policies at the last federal election.

Senator Ridgeway will deliver his speech, Copyrites, tonight as a part of the NGA Exhibition, Seeing the Centre: The art of Albert Namatjira 1902-1959. A copy of the speech is available on request.

Media Release from The Australian Democrats

ALBERT NAMATJIRA

(1902 - 1959)

Albert Namatjira is one of Australia's great artists, and perhaps the best known Aboriginal painter. His western style landscapes - so different to traditional Aboriginal art, made him famous.

Fame led to Albert and his wife becoming the first Aborigines to be granted Australian citizenship. It was a significant achievement, because at this time Aborigines had few rights.

He wasn't born Albert.

His parents called him Elea.But after moving to an Aboriginal mission and adopting Christianity, they baptised and renamed their son.

Mission life was nothing like the life Albert's people lived in the deserts of the Northern Territory.

That was a lifestyle he knew little about, until he turned thirteen.

At the age of thirteen Albert experienced an important Aboriginal ritual - initiation.

As one of the Aranda tribe, he lived in the bush for six months and was taught traditional laws and customs by tribal elders.

Work as a camel driver took Albert through the country he would later paint, the dreamtime places of his Aranda people.

By this time he had married Ilkalita, a member of a neighbouring community.

The couple built a house near the mission, and Albert supported his growing family by doing odd jobs.

These included making and selling small pieces of artwork.

In 1934 two Melbourne artists visited the mission to exhibit their paintings.

Seeing them, Albert was inspired to paint seriously.

Two years later, he volunteered to show one of the painters, Rex Batterbee, good places to paint.

In exchange, Rex taught Albert how to paint.

Albert was a fast learner.

He thought he had a natural gift, and he was right.

Albert's first exhibition, held in Melbourne in 1938, sold out.

Exhibitions in Adelaide and Sydney drew similar enthusiasm.

Even the Queen liked his work

Albert was a celebrity, but not always a comfortable one.

It was always a relief for him to leave the big smoke and return to his desert home.

Success brought money - and Albert planned to use it to secure a future for his family.

He wanted to lease a cattle station - but as an Aborigine he wasn't allowed.

Next he tried to build a house in Alice Springs.

Once again the law prevented him, just because he was Aboriginal.

It was a strange situation.

Here was a man, heralded as a top artist, treated like a celebrity and yet not even allowed to own land.

"He was definitely the beginning of a recognition of Aboriginal people by white Australia." Charles Perkins

Public outrage at Albert's predicament pushed the government to grant him and his wife full citizenship in 1957.

This meant they could vote, enter a hotel and build a house anywhere they chose.

It took ten years for the government to grant similar rights to the rest of the Aboriginal population.

As a citizen Albert could now also buy alcohol.

In keeping with Aboriginal custom, Albert's friends expected him to share any alcohol he bought.

But in doing this he broke white man's laws.

In 1958, police charged Albert with supplying alcohol to Aboriginal people .

He denied the charge, but the court didn't believe him.

After two months in prison, Albert emerged a free, but broken man.

He had lost his will to paint, and to live.

Albert Namatjira died in 1959.

He was just fifty-seven years old.

Albert's life and work have inspired other Aboriginal people to paint.

Among them have been his children and grand-children.

This great painter captured Australia's heart in artwork and was praised around the world.

His life showed white Australians the injustice of racist laws, and contributed to long overdue changes for his people.

Source: ABC

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