Bedford Downs, c.1983-84

natural earth pigments on plywood

183 x 93 cm

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Provenance: Field Collected, WA Neil McLeod Fine Arts, Dandenong, Vic Private Collection Vic
Artwork story: For much of his adult life Rover worked on cattle stations situated on the fringes of the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts including Bow River Station where he was married for the first time, and later at Texas Downs, Old Lissadel and Mabel Downs, adjacent to the Warmun community at Turkey Creek where he settled in his later years. Rover began painting in the late 1970s encouraged by his uncle Paddy Jaminji who was born at Bedford Downs Station. This beautiful work on plywood by Rover Thomas depicts Bedford Downs, the site of a massacre of Aboriginal people that happened in 1924 just before Rover Thomas was born. The period from the 1890s through to the 1920s were known as the "killing times" by the local Aboriginal communities in the East Kimberley.

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c.1926 – 1998

natural earth pigments on plywood

183 x 93 cm

Enquire for price

Provenance: Field Collected, WA Neil McLeod Fine Arts, Dandenong, Vic Private Collection Vic
Artwork story: For much of his adult life Rover worked on cattle stations situated on the fringes of the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts including Bow River Station where he was married for the first time, and later at Texas Downs, Old Lissadel and Mabel Downs, adjacent to the Warmun community at Turkey Creek where he settled in his later years. Rover began painting in the late 1970s encouraged by his uncle Paddy Jaminji who was born at Bedford Downs Station. This beautiful work on plywood by Rover Thomas depicts Bedford Downs, the site of a massacre of Aboriginal people that happened in 1924 just before Rover Thomas was born. The period from the 1890s through to the 1920s were known as the "killing times" by the local Aboriginal communities in the East Kimberley.