Collections held:
Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of WesternAustralia.
Buku-Larrnggay Arts Museum, Yirrkala, NT.
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Horsfall Collection, Hobart.
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.
Group Exhibitions:
1974 to 1976, Art of Aboriginal Australia, touring Canada, Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada Ltd.
1988, Aboriginal art of the Top End, c.1935-Early 1970s, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
1993, Arnhem Land Dreaming, Bark Paintings from Tasmanian Collections, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
1993/4, ARATJARA, Art of the First Australians, Touring: Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London;
Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark–included the 1963 Bark Petitions
Select Bibliography:
Beresford, A., 1993, Arnhem Land Dreaming, Bark Paintings from Tasmanian Collections, exhib. cat. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Groger-Wurm, H., 1973, Australian Aboriginal Paintings and their Mythological Interpretation, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. (C)
1993, Aratjara, Art of the First Australians: Traditional and Contemporary Works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists, exhib. cat. (conceived and designed by Bernard Luthi in collaboration with Gary Lee), Dumont, Buchverlag, Koln. (C)
Wells, A., 1971, This their Dreaming, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland
Department of the Interior, Australia, Gove Peninsula, Pamphlet, Australian Government Printing Service, Australian Capital Territory.
Aboriginal News Service 1979 3(6), 14-15.
1974, Art of Aboriginal Australia, exhib. cat., Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada Limited. (C)
Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Milirrpum Marika (c. 1923–1983)
Milirrpum was the third oldest brother of the famous generation of Marika
leaders that included Mawalan 1 and Mathaman. Milirrpum was an important
ceremonial and community leader at Yirrkala from the 1970s until his death in
1983. He was also a talented and distinctive artist who was most active after
1960 and was represented in a number of group shows during his lifetime.
Stylistically his paintings were very similar to those of his younger brother Roy. However, due to other commitments and interests, especially in the education area, he was not as prolific an artist as Mawalan 1 or Mathaman, although his work is represented in a number of public Australian collections.
He is perhaps best known for his involvement in the landmark case Milirrpum and Others v Nabalco Pty Ltd and the Commonwealth of Australia, 1971, that finally lead to the federal government’s Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.
