CHILD ARTISTS

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Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers
are advised that this article contains images and ‘voices’
of people who have passed away.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Wadjak Boodja
(Perth land), on which this article was written,
and pay our respects to their Elders past and present.
We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This article is posted with permission of the author,
David Clark, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychology.
He wishes to thank the publishers of the work, the
Royal Western Australian Historical Society Inc.,
for their invite to give a talk and write this article.

“Western Australia, 1946: When teacher Noel White arrives at government-run Carrolup Native Settlement, he cannot communicate with the traumatised Aboriginal children, as they are so fearful. The children, forcibly removed from their families as part of government policy, live in squalor.

Noel connects with the children through his empathy and unique education programme, and inspires them to create beautiful landscape drawings that gain widespread public recognition. The children also display educational, sporting and musical achievements, despite the ongoing adversities they and their teachers face. A 71-year-old Englishwoman, Mrs Florence Rutter, visits Carrolup and tells the children she will do all in her power to make their work known throughout the world. As Mrs Rutter exhibits the artworks in Europe to much acclaim, the Western Australian government closes the school without warning.

The children’s dreams of a better future are shattered by this closure, and by the adversities they face in a white-dominated society that considers them ‘inferior’. The dreams of one talented artist, Revel Cooper, become a nightmare when he faces a charge of murder in the state’s Supreme Court. The all-white jury cannot come to a decision after the first trial, so Revel is tried again a week later.

David’s article plunges us into a world where Aboriginal children show resilience in the face of great adversity. Their achievements challenge the very foundation of a government’s racist and dehumanising policies. Their art inspires four generations of artists… and takes a 50-year journey, encircling the world before returning home.

The Aboriginal Child Artists of Carrolup is a story of trauma, and the overcoming of trauma. A story that resonates in today’s world of the oppressed and their oppressors. A story of Hope, Heart and Healing.”

Taken from The Carrolup Story, by David Clark and John Stanton.

FOUR CARROLUP BOYS:
From left: Thomas Jackamarra, Cliff Ryder, unidentified, and Simpson Kelly, with their pastel drawing books.
Photograph: Vera Hack, 1 February 1950.
(Noel & Lily White Collection.)

‘There can be no
keener revelation of
a society’s soul than
the way it treats
its children.’
Nelson Mandela

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This story was published by the
Royal Western Australian Historical Society
Click link below for full story

David Clark

Visit The Carrolup Story website HERE

Author David Clark is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology who has spent the past twenty years developing initiatives that empower people to recover from addiction, mental health problems and trauma.

David has received widespread recognition for his grassroots initiative Wired In, which empowered people to recover from substance use and associated problems, as well as for developing the online community Wired In To Recovery, Recovery Stories website and Sharing Culture, an educational initiative to help Indigenous peoples heal from historical trauma and its consequences.

David wrote the eBook Connection: Aboriginal Child Artists Captivate Europe and in collaboration with John Stanton, former Director of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia, he runs The Carrolup Story online resource. David was originally an award-winning neuroscientist who trained with the Nobel Laureate Professor Arvid Carlsson in Goteborg, Sweden.