A DYING WISH BASED ON AN ANCIENT CULTURE SABOTAGED BY CONTEMPORARY HISTORY
Having used contemporary history
and lies to over ride the burial wishes of Aboriginal Artist Clifford Possum
Tjapaltjarri, this Anmatyarre tribal man’s immediate family with the assistance
of an Aboriginal Art dealer, and with the
consent of Tjapaltjarri`s executor, Greg
Shanahan from the Office of the Northern Territory Public Trustee, took control
of the artist`s body on the first day of
August 2002 and buried his remains at theYuelamu Cemetery, that rests in the
Tanami Desert and forms part of an Aboriginal owned area now known as Mount
Allan Station, which was the subject of a successful Aboriginal land claim in
1985. Though the Aboriginals who now own
In contrast, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri always maintained his Anmatyerre identity and language and always stated that his `true` home country was Napperby, or Napperby Soakage, or otherwise known as Larumba, where he was born in the 1930s. But unlike Mount Allan, this area of the artist`s Anmatyarre territory could not be subjected to an Aboriginal land claim on the basis that Napperby today chiefly remains pastoral property owned by non-Aboriginals since the early 1900s; this being a period that coincided with the arrival of a number of prospectors coming into the Napperby area due to the discovery of gold in 1910. Given Tjapaltjarri`s traditional up bringing, however, this eminent artist personally never recognized the ownership of his `homestead` by `white` people, so remained as one with the country of his birth and its surrounding areas, including Mount Allan, which is made up of land comprising of sacred dreaming sites and increase centres.
To be sure, both Napperby and
Like Ngarlu, other places of
sacred and historical significance in Anmatyarre territory are in plenty. Today,
however, the sacred sites which ancestors such as Lintipilinti put on the
Anmatyerre map remain disconnected by fences, or modern day borders. As a
result, Anmatyerre territory remains divided into various estates owned by
Aboriginals, where land claims have been successful, such as
But for Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri the pre 1910 history of his country had little impact on his family and his executor, who chose to ignore the fact that the artist wished to be buried at Napperby, and -in opposition to Tjapaltjarri`s tribal knowledge- they chose to view, or use, the artist`s territory as it stands today; rather than what it was in the past, which remained the artist`s reality and the subject of his work for approximately 30 years. As demonstrated by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s 1994 painting titled `Tjapaltjarri and Tjungurrayi Dreamings`, which represents the artist`s grandfather’s and father’s country and associated dreamings (ancestral history). The main motif in the centre of this work represents Mount Wedge, which is clearly in the Napperby area of Anmatyarre country.
Tjapaltjarri and Tjungurrayi Dreamings 457 x 183 cm ( 15` x 6` )
In terms of Aboriginal Law, the area and dreamings shown in this work belong to the artist, who, in relation to the country and dreamings depicted on this large canvas, can call himself Kirda (owner in Warlpiri language). In that, traditional ownership of Anmatyerre country is acquired through descent from males. While in contrast, ownership of land acquired by way of descent from females renders a tribal person not Kirda (owner) but Kurdungurlu (minder or `policeman` in Warlpiri language) of their inherited country. For example, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s mother’s and grandmother’s country is not strictly the property of the artist, who in terms of the country and dreamings associated to his female relations calls himself Kurdungurlu.
For example, the artist`s mother Long Rosie Nangala was born in Warlpiri country adjacent to her husband’s Anmatyarre territory, given this, however, does not give Tjapaltjarri licence to claim ownership of sacred Warlpiri dreaming sites such as Warlukurlongu. But rather licence to call himself Kurdungurlu in relation to his mother’s country, which in terms of Aboriginal Law strictly belongs to Long Rosie’s brother and father. So being, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri though not the owner of Warlugulongu, has, nevertheless, certain rights and obligations as Kurdungurlu regarding this portion of country. This includes the artist in having licence to depict Warlukurlongu in his art, which Tjapaltjarri did often in paintings sometimes titled Warlukurlongu or Fire Dreamings in relation to an ancient ancestral event that took place at Warlukurlongu during the Dreamtime and gave this area its sacred identity.
In light of this it becomes clear why Warlukurlongu is not represented in the artist`s 1994 `Tjungurrayi and Tjapaltjarri Dreamings`, as the areas in this work are strictly the artist`s own by way of his father’s and grandfather’s legacy. Also not present in this large canvas is a number of other areas and associated dreamings that Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri often painted, but like Warlukurlongu these dreamings are not the artist`s own. In that, they remain the legacy of female ancestors. Like the Kirdas of Yuelamu: the main hub of Mount Allan Station and named after the native honey ants, as are the people of Mount Allan who call themselves members of the Yuelamu Community. But the same cannot be said of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri in light of his native inheritance and that the artist never spoke of Yuelamu as his `homestead` as he did Larumba, or Napperby. Nor did the artist ever indicate that Yuelamu`s Honey Ant Dreaming strictly belonged to him. An idea shown in the artist`s 1994 `Tjungurrayi and Tjapaltjarri Dreamings`, which does not feature Yuelamu`s honey ants for the same reason that convinced the artist to leave the Fire Dreaming of Warlukurlongu out of this work.
Essentially Yuelamu, the area where Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was buried against his wishes, fundamentally belongs to a semi-moiety outside of the artist`s own. That is, the Kirdas of Yuelamu and its associated dreaming are members of one of four patri-couples, or semi-moieties, with each consisting of two sub-sections grouped patrilineally, and from this creating an eight sub-section system of social categorization, which recognizes individuals through one of the eight names given to each sub-section. These names essentially, are regarded as `skin` names. Such as Tjapaltjarri being the artist`s own, while Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s father’s skin name is Tjungurrayi, though his father before him was a Tjapaltjarri like his grandson. To be sure, skin names are passed down not from father to son or from mother to daughter, but rather from grandfather to grandson and from grandmother to grand-daughter. In addition, it needs to be noted that the skin names associated to Anmatyerre people also apply to people from other tribes and territories across the Australian desert.
In terms of Yuelamu`s Kirdas, or owners in the strictest sense, their skin names are Tjapanangka and Tjapangardi in relation to the men, while the women’s skin names are Napanangka and Napangardi. Though it needs to be recognized that skin names alone do not constitute land ownership, for as previously stated, traditional ownership of land is fundamentally acquired by way of descent from males. Nevertheless, skin names are inherited from patri-couples, which in the case of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, show that the artist`s patrilineal membership based on genealogical descent differs from Yuelamu`s Kirdas. Who, like the rest of the people at Yuelamu, have their roots in another area of Anmatyerre territory and, or, in other tribal lands, due to the displacement of people during `the killing times` at Coniston in 1929, or 1928, and the fact that many Anmatyerre men’s wives are women from different tribes, who joined their husbands at Yuelamu. Just as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s Luritja wife joined her husband at Napperby.
But Napperby according to the
artist`s Melbourne based daughters and niece from Yuelamu was not
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s home country. An assertion taken from the 1985
Mount Allan Land Claim, which shows
Though chiefly pastoral property, Napperby nevertheless, still provides Napperby Aboriginals with a home base. In that, a section of Napperby land has been preserved for the local Aboriginal people, who live in this area as the Larumba Community. As such, Larumba still exists and the old Anmatyarre cemetery which is situated on pastoral land has been replaced by another burial site within the Larumba area. This essentially is where Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri buried his eldest son after he died in August 1990 and then his own wife following her death in November of that same year. For Larumba, or Napperby Soakage, was considered by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri as his `true` home, though not only in relation to his own birth, but also in relation to the fact that this area also belongs to the artist`s father and was Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s grandfather’s place of birth, and his sacred principal dreaming was Water/Hail/Lightning from Mount Wedge, which is the central focus point in the artist`s 1994 `Tjapaltjarri and Tjungurrayi Dreamings`, and today forms part of the Napperby area, as it did in the distant past. In addition, Tjapaltjarri was initiation at Napperby, which is also the home of the Larumba Possum Ancestor identified as the artist`s personal totem and the subject of his principal Possum Dreaming.
Claiming to be traditional Aboriginals, who wanted to bury the artist in their own traditional way and in an area which they considered to be his rightful place of rest under traditional law, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s family convinced the artist`s trustee to abandon the artist`s burial request in favour of their own. But as shown on national television and in news papers, the artist`s funeral at Mount Allan was anything but traditional. To begin with, a week before the burial the artist`s daughters and niece were shown painted in body designs supposedly related to `sorry business`, but besides being painted up with purchased paint used for painting canvas, rather than natural earth pigments mixed with crushed native plants and down, these women were decorated as if they were attending a `happy` ceremony. For traditional Anmatyerre `sorry business` requires mourners to be painted, or covered, in white pipe-clay rubbed over the whole body with an absence of any particular motifs, which is an expression of grief that the spirit of the deceased person will recognize.
As for the burial itself, the artist`s family were not painted in white pipe-clay on this day either, but rather dressed in everyday apparel in a gathering that appeared to be more like an out door Christian service, rather than an Anmatyerre burial, in which relatives in mourning are supposed to turn up with their bodies smeared in white pipe-clay. Besides this, a traditional burial dictates that relatives must crop their hair, which is then thrown into the grave with the deceased person. From the images of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s daughters and niece, there is no doubt that these women trimmed their hair following the artist`s death, but in no way was their hair cropped in the traditional sense. Nor did a reporter at the burial see hair being placed with the artist, although this may have occurred following the reporter’s departure, which seems as odd as Tjapaltjarri`s supposed traditional `sorry business` and Christian-like funeral.
Given that most Aboriginal people
from the desert are Christians the funeral of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
might be regarded as typical and in accord with the artist`s own Christian
beliefs. But Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri covered his Christianity himself in
his will by requesting a church service to be held in his
Through a countless number of hours of video tape recordings along with a grand body of paintings, the identity and aspirations of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri cannot go unrecognized. Nor can the fact that this Master of colour, composition and visual cultural narration left a legal will that remains in total accord with Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s Anmatyerre world. To argue otherwise has no support in fact, but those who did argue otherwise to convince the artist`s executor to give them control over the artist`s body deprived this precious man of his final resting place and ignored his ancient tribal knowledge, which the Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri helped to preserve following near cultural decay under Colonial Rule.
To better understand the attack on the artist`s burial wishes, however, is to recognize this action as being a first step in an attempt to crush Clifford Possum's entire will, which prevented the players from exploiting the artist`s imagery by using it for merchandising, such as putting pictures of his work on carpets and the like, which the Aboriginal Artist`s Agency (Clifford Possum's copyright agent...still appointed to this day) will not permit. This agency protects the works of all Papunya Tula artists from such reproductions, which is a rule that the artists themselves put into play concerning their sacred-cultural imagery when Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd. was first established. This, of course, makes the sabotage of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s burial wish all the more disturbing. So too the `new identity` created for him to make Clifford Possum's burial at Yuelamu instead of Larumba seem right when there is nothing right about it; it was a condemnable act and a heartbreak to have witnessed.
Milanka J Sullivan 2002
Report 19
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