JUKURRPA BOOKS
by Wenten Rubuntja and Jenny Green.
Centralian artist-activist, Wenten Rubuntja, has tape recorded the reminiscences of his earliest memories of life in Alice Springs.
Among the more forthright passages are his memories of how, as cheeky youngsters, he and his mates openly exploited the missionaries for tucker in lieu of conversion to the true faith – attitudes which led Aboriginal people to being termed “tea and sugar Christians.”
Rubuntja recalled: “We came to say ‘Amen’ to Pastor Albrecht … Then we went along and said ‘Amen’ to Father Maloney … We said ‘Amen’ to every priest. Old Father Maloney found us and baptised us. We were bludging around for lollies … We went along to every church and got baptised. We went to Father Dominic, to the Jehovah Witnesses’ church, to Father Smith, Father Gross and to Father Ted as well … We went to all the churches …
“You know kids, they have no shame … We’d all go back and sit on top of the hill, and look down and see, ‘Oh, a big mob is going over there to that priest.’ We used to go to the Afghans’ church as well, on the edge of the river where the churches were set up in tents … We’d said, ‘We been come up and pray – we want damper …’”
His tribal uncle, the well-known Arunda artist, Albert Namatjira, once gave him a board on which to practise his developing artistic skills.
Rubuntja said: “I wanted to learn … I used to watch him. I’d sit there and watch and keep everything in my head … how he was mixing the paint up and all. He gave me a little … half board and I went back to the Telegraph Station and started painting … I went and hid myself behind a rock … I was remembering how that old man was painting … his hand-work, his mixing and his ideas. After that I brought the painting up and showed it to old Namatjira and he said, ‘Eh, who taught you? You’ve got good ideas …’”
Throughout a long life lived largely in the Central Australian bush, Rubuntja worked as a brick-maker, drover, timber cutter, butcher, etc.
At one stage he struggled with an alcohol addiction.
“Nothing but drinking, drinking, drinking … I had three flagons … When I sat down, I saw the ground turning – coloured and spinning, like someone had turned it around … I broke the three bottles … Then I been just give up. Just finish.”
Wenten Rubuntja’s documented memories form a valuable addition to the archives of Central Australian history and should be part of every library collection.
-T. Saunders.
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