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 has linked up with John Stanton, former Director of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology at the University of Western Australia, to develop a project that will help the children reach out again, not with just their art, but also with their enthralling Story. Along with Ash Whitney, they have have developed a unique storytelling, education and healing resource, The Carrolup Story. In addition, David published the eBook Connection: Aboriginal Child Artists Captivate Europe in June 2020.
This book, like David and John’s online resource, uses ‘faces’ and ‘voices’ of the past, providing access to a wealth of photographs, pictures of the children’s art and schoolwork, letters, documents and media clippings, that help bring the story ‘alive’. The book 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.
CONNECTION 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.
The song ‘Carrolup’ was written by Dilip Parekh, a Fremantle-based musician, in 2007 and performed by Dilip ‘n the Davs.
