Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to draw the House's attention to the incredible story of the Carrolup artworks and the young Nyungar artists who grew up near my home town of Katanning. In 1945, the new headmaster of the Carrolup Native Settlement School, Mr Noel White, recognised the natural talent the Nyungar schoolchildren had for drawing. He secured crayons, pencils and paper and encouraged them to bushwalk and draw whatever they saw. They created vivid landscapes, rich with wildlife, and depictions of traditional Aboriginal life.

In 1966, US businessman Herbert Mayer purchased these paintings, and the art was lost for many years. But, in 2004, a touring Australian-based art scholar visiting Colgate University, in upstate New York, recognised the works as those of the Nyungar children of Carrolup. This prompted 10 years of cultural interchange between the Nyungar elders of the Great Southern, academics and students of Colgate, culminating in the generous donation of these artworks to Curtin University, in Western Australia.

The Koolark Koort Koorlinymeaning Heart Coming Homeexhibition opened in Albany on 23 May, with surviving Carrolup students Mr Angus Wallam, Maisie Weston and Edith de Giambattista, together with Noelene White, the daughter of the Carrolup headmaster, as honoured guests. I hope this exhibition of unique artworks proves inspirational to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Western Australians.

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