Rainbow Serpent

Dick Roughsey (Goobalathaldin), c. 1924 - 1985, was born on Langunarnji Island, a small island near Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. As a boy he lived in the bush learning the traditions, ceremonies and stories of his father's language group, the Lardil people. At the age of eight he began to attend a Presbyterian mission school, and after finishing primary school returned to his home and continued his traditional education with tribal elders.

At age sixteen he travelled to the Australian mainland to work, and found employment as a stockman on cattle stations in North Queensland and as a deckhand and fisherman. He also assisted the Royal Australian Air Force in the Gulf of Carpentaria during World War II (Roughsey, p 122 - 124).

Roughsey began to paint on bark using traditional methods. In 1962 he met bush pilot, painter and explorer, Percy Trezise who mentored him and suggested he try Western methods of painting in oils. Roughsey's work began to draw attention and he held successful exhibitions in Cairns, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. He worked with Trezise for many years, producing picture books which retold traditional Aboriginal stories, such as The Rainbow Serpent, a creation story which was awarded Picture Book of the Year (1976) by The Children's Book Council of Australia. These books were among the first to successfully bring stories about Australian Aboriginal culture to children, using drama, bright illustrations of a recognizably Australian landscape and the universal theme of good versus bad (Saxby p 116). They were also a way of preserving traditionally, oral stories that might otherwise have been lost or distorted, due to social and cultural change wrought by outside influences.

Roughsey lived with his wife Elsie and their six children on Mornington Island, spending half of each year in North Queensland, travelling for work. With Tresize he discovered and studied the rock art in Aboriginal cave galleries in the Laura region of Cape York. One of these was the Quinkin gallery (Quinkins are elusive and sometimes menacing spirit beings), which inspired the award-winning books The Quinkins and Turramulli the giant Quinkin.

Roughsey was the first chairman of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council 1973 - 1975. He received many awards for his children's books and an OBE in 1978 for Service to Aboriginal Art and Culture.

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