Hosted by the Portico Library online via Zoom. Free book here.

A selection of the treasured collection created by Aboriginal children interned at the remote Western Australian settlement of Carrolup in the 1940s will be showcased at The Portico Library in Manchester until September 26 and the University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel from October 5 to November 11. Presented by the John Curtin Gallery as part of the UK Australia Season of Culture, with guidance from Goreng Elder of the Nyungar Nation Mr Ezzard Flowers, ‘Tracing the art of a Stolen Generation: the child artists of Carrolup’ is curated by Australian First Nations Art Curator Michelle Broun and Adjunct Curator Dr Helen Idle.

This exhibition and the connected search for more artwork by the child artists of Carrolup is one example of attempting to reconnect families and provide an opportunity for other to learn about this tragic period in Australia history. Another form of remembering is through publishing and memoir. Magabala Books is Australia’s leading Indigenous publishing house, based in Broome, Western Australia, and publishes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories. An independent, award-winning publisher, Magabala is Aboriginal owned and led and plays a significant advisory role within the industry, modelling best practice for the publishing of Indigenous stories. Every Magabala Book purchased is an investment in Indigenous creative, cultural and economic futures.

One of Magabala Book’s memoirs God, the Devil and Me by Alf Taylor will be available in the Portico Library for visitors to read during the display of the Carrolup exhibition. In his unique and highly entertaining autobiography, Alf Taylor chronicles his life growing up in the infamous New Norcia Mission, north of Perth in the fifties and sixties. As a child, underfed, poorly clothed and missing his family, Alf sought refuge in the library in the company of Shakespeare and Michelangelo. He writes with joy about the camaraderie of the boys, their love of sport and their own company, but also notes that many descended into despair upon leaving. Most died early. Alf Taylor is one of the ‘lucky ones’.

We are delighted that Alf can be in a discussion with Michelle Broun and Magabala for this event.

Alf Taylor spent his childhood growing up in New Norcia Mission, Western Australia, and upon leaving he worked around Perth and Geraldton as a seasonal farm worker, before he joined the Armed Forces. After a marriage, seven children and a divorce, Alf found his voice as a writer and poet. Alf’s father’s name was Rosendo Taylor and he married his Mother Queenie Harris who came from the Fraser Ranges, not far from Norseman. Her Mother belonged to the Ngadu people from the Norseman area.

Michelle Broun is an Yindjibarndi women from the Pilbara region of Western Australia.  She is currently the Curator, Australian First Nations Art, at John Curtin Gallery, Western Australia, an focusing on the collection of artworks created by the child artists of Carrolup Native Settlement from 1946-1950.   

Michelle has 25 years’ experience working with Australian First Nation’s arts and cultural communities.  She collaborates with cultural leaders, researchers, artists, and producers to develop projects which empower Aboriginal people and build bridges across cultures.  She has worked as an artist, curator, in cultural planning and policy, and as a creative producer for Local and State governments and the not- for-profit sectors.  As Manager of Community Indigenous Stories at the Film and Television Institute of WA, she produced over 30 oral-histories on film.  She was lead curator of the Ngalang Koort Boodja Wirn exhibition at the WA Museum Boola Bardip which opened in 2020.  She is currently enrolled in the Masters of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University and has special interests in cultural safety, rights in records, decolonising collections and repatriation.  

This event will be recorded.