{"id":5823,"date":"1994-02-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"1994-02-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/Agod\/2026\/09\/08\/108-rover-thomas-how-good-is-this-man-truth-my-fav-of-all-space\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T19:40:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:40:56","slug":"108-rover-thomas-how-good-is-this-man-truth-my-fav-of-all-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrprimo.com\/AGOD\/02\/21\/108-rover-thomas-how-good-is-this-man-truth-my-fav-of-all-space\/1994\/","title":{"rendered":"Rover Thomas = how good is this man?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Truth = my fav (OF ALL : space and time within SEASONS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AGOD – Australian Gallery of Dreamings & EBEScontemporary have a responsibiliy to enable our indigenous artists : AGOD seeks to help them eductate the world’s soul = SEASONS is the key to ongoing harmony (living within our means \/ climate \/ ecosystem:-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.art-almanac.com.au\/six-seasons<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/creativenative.com.au\/blogs\/blog\/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-seasons<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/artgallery.wa.gov.au\/whats-on\/exhibitions\/six-seasons\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/yallingupaboriginalart.com.au\/the-six-seasons-of-noongar-country<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will all learn from his work = space & time = season… (Rover is god like in his wisdom = simplicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rover Thomas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born<\/th>1926
Western Australia, Australia<\/td><\/tr>
Died<\/th>11 April 1998 (aged 71\u201372)
Warmun (Turkey Creek), East Kimberley<\/a>, Western Australia, Australia<\/td><\/tr>
Other names<\/th>Roba, Juluma, Joowoorroo\/Juwurru<\/td><\/tr>
Occupations<\/th>Stockman, artist<\/td><\/tr>
Known for<\/th>Painting<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Notable work<\/th>‘All That Big Rain Coming from the Top Side’ (1991)’Railway Bridge, Katherine’ (1984), ‘Bedford Downs Massacre’ (1985), ‘Two men dreaming’ (1985), ‘The Story of Owl (Dumbiny)’ (1988), ‘Yari country’ (1989), ‘Barramundi Dreaming’ (1989), ‘Cyclone Tracy’ (1991).<\/td><\/tr>
Relatives<\/th>Nyuju Stumpy Brown<\/a> (sister)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rover Thomas Joolama<\/strong> (c.1926 \u2013 11 April 1998), commonly known as simply Rover Thomas<\/strong>, was a Wangkajunga<\/a> and Kukatja<\/a> Aboriginal Australian<\/a> artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Early life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rover Thomas was born in 1925 near Gunawaggii<\/a>, at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route<\/a>, in the Great Sandy Desert<\/a> of Western Australia<\/a>.[1]<\/a><\/sup> At the age of 10 Thomas and his family moved to the Kimberley<\/a> where, as was usual at the time, he began work as a stockman<\/a>. Later in his life Thomas lived at Turkey Creek<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rover Thomas and his Uncle Paddy Jaminji<\/a> first started painting dance boards on dismembered tea chests<\/a> for the Krill Krill ceremony in 1977.[2]<\/a><\/sup> Thomas was inspired to paint by a mystical experience of being visited by his deceased kinship mother after the disaster of Cyclone Tracy<\/a>, which he interpreted as a warning against the decline of Indigenous cultural practices.[3]<\/a><\/sup> The Krill Krill ceremony included dances, songs and the painted boards tracing the woman’s after-life journey from her death near Derby<\/a> back to the place of her birth near Turkey Creek<\/a>.[4]<\/a><\/sup> He would return to the theme of Cyclone Tracy in a later work now in the National Gallery of Australia<\/a> collection.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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East Kimberley School<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1980s, Rover Thomas started painting ochre<\/a> on canvas and soon became a pioneer artist of what was later known as the East Kimberley School.[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One series of paintings from this time depicted massacre sites from the frontier wars<\/a> in the Kimberley. Notable works include ‘Bedford Downs<\/a> Massacre’ and ‘Camp at Mistake Creek<\/a>‘. A National Gallery of Victoria<\/a> curator noted the works dual roles as history painting<\/a> and landscape painting<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While these images describe actual events of cultural and social importance as remembered and passed down in oral history; they are at the same time, superb planer constructions of colour and form as in the dominant, central black shape and contrasting ‘country’ of Lake Paruku.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Thomas likened the works of American abstract expressionist<\/a> Mark Rothko<\/a> to his own work saying: ‘That bugger paints like me!\u2019.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rover Thomas was inspired by many East Kimberley artists who heed follow including Queenie McKenzie<\/a>, Freddie Timms<\/a> and Paddy Bedford<\/a>[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exhibitions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

He was the subject of the important solo exhibition Roads Cross: The Paintings of Rover Thomas<\/em>, National Gallery of Australia<\/a>, Canberra in 1994.[8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2000, Thomas’s work was among that of eight individual and collaborative groups of Indigenous Australian artists shown in the prestigious Nicholas Hall<\/a> at the Hermitage Museum<\/a> in Russia. The exhibition received a positive reception from Russian critics, one of whom wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is an exhibition of contemporary art, not in the sense that it was done recently, but in that it is cased in the mentality, technology and philosophy of radical art of the most recent times. No one, other than the Aborigines of Australia, has succeeded in exhibiting such art at the Hermitage.[9]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Awards and recognition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1990 Thomas was awarded the John McCaughey Prize<\/a> at the Art Gallery of New South Wales<\/a>.[10]<\/a><\/sup>[11]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1990 he became the first Aboriginal Australian to exhibit in the Venice Biennale<\/a>, alongside Trevor Nickolls<\/a>.[12]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Collections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thomas’ work is held in many major collections, including:[10]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n