Landscape Painting

Carrolup, refers to a style of painting which originated from a Native Settlement of the same name in the South West of Western Australia. It was first established in 1915 but closed in 1922. In 1940 it was reopened as a farm training school for Aboriginal boys under the Aboriginal Protection Act. In 1945 the school’s headmaster Noel White, and his wife Lily, established educational programs in art and music for the pupils. The art produced by the children became famous in Australia and overseas, and many pupils went on to become established artists. A number of works created by child artists of Carrolup” in the 1960s and 1970s are in the collection of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia. Carrolup was closed down by the Department of Native Affairs in 1951, viewed by many as a victim of its own success. Unfortunately, many former students of the school later found themselves behind bars in Fremantle Prison, and the Carrolup art style became a common style in Indigenous prisoner art.
The Carrolup drawings and paintings form an important contribution to Noongar history and to Aboriginal art history. The scenes of hunting, corroborees and the environment illustrate some of the last remaining memories of traditional cultural activities in the south-west. Young Noongar artists such as Revel Cooper, Reynold Hart, Mervyn Hill, Parnell Dempster, Claude Kelly, Micky Jackson and Barry Loo developed a unique style of expression and had a major influence on later generations of Aboriginal artists.
In 1978 Steve Culley began teaching art classes at Fremantle Prison, soon accompanied by David Wroth and Lindsey Pow. The popularity of their art program can be gauged by the number of prisoners who enrolled (more than 2,000 students within the first five years). Initially these art classes were for Aboriginal prisoners only, but as their popularity grew the classes were opened up to other prisoners and were moved into a larger space in the Assessment Centre.