The Dreamtime Books

Ainslie Roberts (1911 - 1993) was an Australian painter, photographer and commercial artist. He is best known for his interpretations of Aboriginal myths in The Dreamtime books on which he collaborated with ethnologist/anthropologist Charles P Mountford.

Roberts' artistic career developed from a small graphic arts business in the late 1920s to a partnership in a large and successful South Australian advertising agency during the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

In 1950 Roberts experienced a health crisis due to the demands of his career, and he travelled to Alice Springs for a break. This was the catalyst for a change in his life which led him to discover 'the real Australia' (Hulley, p 93) and he resolved to move away from his advertising business. He later travelled with Charles Mountford in Central Australia where he met with Aboriginal people and experienced a renewal of the artistic creativity which had been compromised during his commercial career.

Charles Mountford (1890 - 1976) was a South Australian ethnographer who advanced from amateur status to become an important figure in the field of Australian anthropology. His early work as a telephone mechanic gave him entry to remote areas of South Australia and the Northern Territory, where he began to meet with and observe Aboriginal Australians. His career spanned the 1930s to 1960s during which he led expeditions to the Flinders Ranges, Arnhem Land, Western Australia and Central Australia. The material Mountford collected during these expeditions is primarily held by the State Library of South Australia. Known as the Mountford-Sheard Collection (PRG 1218), it contains journals, photography, film, sound recordings, artworks, correspondence and published works. This collection is listed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World register.

Roberts met Mountford in 1952, a time during which both men were at the height of their careers. They were both photographers of note, and they travelled around South Australia photographing cave sites and petroglyphs. In 1956 they made their first trip to Central Australia together, Mountford investigating the cave paintings and local Aboriginal myths, and Roberts sketching and painting the people they met and places they visited. Their Aboriginal guide was Anmatyerre elder Tjukaldai Tjapaltjarri, known as 'One Pound Jimmy', father of renowned artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Tjukuldai was the first Aboriginal person to feature on a series of Australian postage stamps in the 1950s (See PRG 1218/22).

Roberts subsequently painted, then exhibited, some of the myths Mountford had collected. The success of this exhibition held in Adelaide in October 1963 led to Rigby publishers proposing a book.

Although Mountford drew on his own exploration in Central Australia, Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands for some of the stories, many were compiled from other sources. For The first kangaroo, Mountford drew heavily on a story published in 1925 by CW Peck in Australian legends : tales handed down from the remotest times by the autochthonous inhabitants of our land (Sydney, Stafford, 1925, p 38). Other myths were compiled from the works of Herbert Basedow, Xavier Herbert, Land of the Byamee (Keith McKeown) and People of the Dreamtime (Alan Marshall).

Roberts' paintings were produced at a time when it was acceptable for a non-Aboriginal person to collect information about and paint Aboriginal mythology with authority and without permission, a practice which persisted even up until the late 1980s (see Rolls, 2006), when Hulley's biography of Roberts was published (1988). This approach would now be met with skepticism, but at that time these works created an awareness amongst the global community, of the complex spirituality of Aboriginal people.

While The Dreamtime books were not specifically addressed to a child audience, the format is child friendly and at least two reviewers have suggested that the books would appeal to both adults and children. Other reviewers have specifically mentioned the 'fairy tale tradition' which again would draw adults to consider the books suitable for children, particularly with the concise text of the tales and their mythic elements (Roberts, Collection of reviews, 1973-1975).

It is suggested that Roberts' work also influenced political and social change within the broader Australian community in respect to Aboriginal citizenship, land rights and the Mabo decision (1992), through which the High Court of Australia overturned the idea of 'terra nullius' and disputed that Australia belonged to no one before colonisation. (http://www.ainslieroberts.com/about.html, accessed 3rd November 2011).

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

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