recall in detail the brutality of these times. At Ruby Plains, south of Halls Creek, four
Aboriginal men were slain and decapitated by the station owner and manager as a reprisal for
butchering a bullock, and at Texas Downs a similar event occurred - several Aborigines were
shot because they had killed some cattle. And at Bedford Downs, probably around 1924,
Aborigines at the camp were given food rations poisoned with strychnine. A number of white
station workers then shot and killed the Aborigines as they were writhing in agony from the
effects of the poison. These massacres were undoubtedly driven by racial prejudice - the
Aborigines had slain the cattle because they were destroying their traditional food sources
and disrupting their relationship with the land.
Rover Thomas recorded the sites of these massacres in a number of 'Killing Times'
paintings. These works - mostly painted between 1988 and 1991 - are deeply moving and
among his most impressive large-scale compositions. It is ironic, though, that works of such
extraordinary beauty could arise from such tragedy. Thomas's paintings record the locations
of the massacres and incorporate within their dot-delineations the sites where the Aborigines
were slain and their bodies dismembered or burnt, where bullocks were butchered, and where
wood was gathered. Tracks, roads and creeks - even the paths taken by the station owners -
are also an intrinsic part of the design. What is truly extraordinary is that a timeless, universal
quality arises in these works which seems to transcend the tragedies themselves : it is also a
great tribute to the descendants of the victims that they are able to recall these grim events
without moral outrage or vengefulness towards present-day white Australians. These were
tragedies in the past, they say ; these were killings that happened 'in them days...'
Rover Thomas continued to produce ochre paintings of exquisite beauty up until his
death on 12 April 1998. With his passing Australia lost one of its greatest Aboriginal artists -
perhaps the greatest of all time.
Further images by Rover Thomas can be found on the Internet and in major publications on Australian
Aboriginal art.
* * *
Shaman Journey
In 1989 the author of the above article, Nevill Drury, collaborated with Australian musician
Japetus to create Shaman Journey. This album has Nevill playing the repetitive, hypnotic
drum rhythms of the shaman in order to help the listener enter an altered state and pursue an
inner journey to contact their totem animal. In the second half of the recording the drum
rhythm is complemented by additional rhythms and atmosphere by Japetus to create the
feeling of a shamanic gathering.
Shaman Journey
You can find out more about Shaman Journey on the Japetus website.