A paper relating to a particular set of artworks in the Batchelor Institute Art Collection has been selected for presentation at the annual Art Association of Australia and New Zealand conference to be held early December at the University of Western Australia (UoWA), Perth. The conference is titled Unruly Objects and is the first time that it is being run by an Indigenous-led organising committee (through UoWA’s Berndt Museum). The paper, to be presented by Batchelor Press Manager Maurice O’Riordan, is titled Captain’s pick because it relates to 13 artworks that were gifted to the Institute by Eric Johnston who served as the first NT Administrator (1981-1989) after the NT was granted self-government in 1978. Johnston also later served as Chair of Batchelor College.

The curious fact about these gifted artworks is that quite a few of them have little to no documentation identifying the artist, title or year of production. Perhaps this was Johnston’s intention in donating them to the Institute, so that future research would identify such details. It’s also unclear how the works came into Johnston’s possession, whether they were personal gifts to him during his term as Administrator or that he acquired them independently. The artworks comprise paintings (on bark and canvas), painted coolamons, boomerangs and a message stick, and were bequeathed to the Institute in 2001, a few years after Johnston passed away in 1997. Perhaps you—as a member of the public, or present or past staff—have your own stories or knowledge about these artworks which you may want to share with Maurice. Former Institute director Veronica Arbon remembers the donation of these artworks as an important catalyst for valuing and documenting the overall collection.