Bark paintings from the
Hopevale community

From the late 1950s the Queensland Government encouraged arts and crafts production in remote Aboriginal communities as a means to economic self-sufficiency. Traditional cultural practices had declined in many Indigenous communities after the impact of colonisation, when people were removed from their traditional lands and could no longer make the connection between stories and places.

The technique of bark painting is not part of the north Queensland Indigenous tradition but was introduced to the Hopevale community around the 1960s. While the technique of bark painting has been borrowed from other Aboriginal cultures, the content of the images relates to local stories and knowledge. The important issue for these artists is that the knowledge and stories depicted in the art is their own.

Exactly who created most of the bark paintings included in the ‘Story Place’ exhibition is unknown. The paintings were created in an era when the market in Queensland did not recognise individuality within Indigenous culture, so the creator of individual works was not recorded. Much of the imagery in the bark paintings derives from rock art found in nearby Quinkan country. This area of prolific rock art is a 10 000 square metre sandstone escarpment running north to Princess Charlotte Bay. It is called Quinkan country after the particular spirit figures who characterise much of the region’s art and mythology.

Included in ‘Story Place’ are five bark paintings by Tulo Gordon. These images are well known because they illustrate his children’s book Milbi: Aboriginal Tales from Queensland’s Endeavour River. The book is a delight for children but is also an important historical record of ancestral stories significant to the local Indigenous culture.

 All stories
 

See also . . .

Learn about the artist Tulo Gordon.
Learn about the community of Hopevale.