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Message Stick – Child Artists of Carrolup (2003)

play May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
clip
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World class education content clip 2

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

This clip describes the constant disruptions to the boys’ preparation for an exhibition, and the discouragement of art as a vocation. Noel White’s daughter and excerpts from White’s diary describe the interference from the Native Welfare Department, and White’s concern that the interruptions would jeopardise opportunities for the children to become further accomplished and recognised as artists. Some of the children’s artwork is shown.

Curator’s notes

by Romaine Moreton

The very simple but effective techniques in this clip, and the great interviews, quickly draw us into the story of how Native Affairs disagreed with Noel White’s encouragement of the children to create artwork. Despite recognition of the art as world class, and the increasing demand for works to be made available for sale, the Native Welfare Department sought to reinforce its policies of training Aboriginal girls to be servants and Aboriginal boys to perform menial labour. The sudden cut-aways to the striking artwork at the end of the sequence strongly underlines the now shocking acts of the department.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This clip shows the conflicting views held by teacher Noel White and the Native Welfare Department on the future for Indigenous children at the Carrolup school in the south-west of Western Australia in the 1940s and 50s. White’s children are interviewed, excerpts from Noel White’s school journal are read and Dr John Stanton of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology recounts how White tried to encourage the art of talented students and how his efforts were frustrated by the Native Welfare Department. Five paintings by the children are shown.

Educational value points

  • The lives of the child artists of Carrolup illustrate the complex history of Indigenous Australians removed from their families. The children were taken from their families to live and be educated at the Carrolup Native Settlement, 15 km from Katanning in WA. Here they responded to the encouragement of Noel White, their teacher, to produce remarkable artwork. The settlement closed in 1951. A small number of the children continued to paint as adults.
  • Two very different perspectives on vocational possibilities for Aboriginal children in the late 1940s are illustrated in the clip. White’s teaching program fostered their creativity and imagination and the value of the children’s art was recognised in exhibitions nationally and internationally. The Native Welfare Department actively discouraged the children’s artistic endeavours as it believed their future employment lay in manual labour and service.
  • Reports from Noel White’s journal heard in the clip indicate a level of hostility from the Native Welfare Department’s officer in response to White’s success with the children, which led to direct interference in the school’s decision-making process. White’s diary reveals that as the children were preparing their artwork for a competition, the officer ordered the boys to stop and do some manual labour, stating: 'Mr White is not your boss. You’ll do what I tell you’.
  • The clip refers to work important in the history of art in Australia, showing the unique style and artistic ability of Indigenous artists long before Indigenous art gained popular recognition in the 1970s and 80s. In the 1940s Carrolup artworks toured Australia and New Zealand before being shown in Britain and America but then they disappeared from view. Recently 113 Carrolup artworks have been located in New York. A worldwide search for others has begun.
  • The distinctive style of the artwork produced in the late 1940s and early 1950s is displayed in the clip. Produced in pastels, ink and watercolours, the work mostly depicts landscapes in a style that combines European influence with elements from the children’s culture, the culture of the Noongar people of south-western WA. The 'Carrolup school’ style still inspires Indigenous artists such as Athol Farmer, a contemporary Carrolup artist.