Children of the Dreamtime

For decades Helen Baldwin has been painting outback Australia and the Aboriginal people. Her travels have taken her throughout western New South Wales and to Alice Springs, Darwin, Yuendumu, Napperby, Mbunghara, Papunya, Kintore, Docker River, Areyonga, Maryvale and countless places in between. Through her friendship with Michael Ellis and his wife Lizzie, a full-blood Aborigine of the Ngaanatjarra tribe, Helen has been taken to special areas that few white people have ever seen. The natural affinity for the Central Australian desert and its people felt by Helen is visible in her artistic work. She is able to see through the incongruous Western clothing, tangled hair and ubiquitous dust to the flame that gave birth to one of the purest forms of spirituality ever articulated. . At night, telling Dreamtime stories by the campfire, an ancient dignity lights the eyes of the old people. It is the essence of this message that Helen Baldwin captures in her paintings of the Aboriginal people: wisdom, simplicity, spontaneity and grace. Children of the Dreamtime presents a vivid picture of the Aboriginal people of central Australia, their way of life and their environment.

Helen was born at Blayney NSW. From early childhood, pictures of Aboriginal people fascinated her. In the mid 1920's, Helen and her family moved to Springwood NSW, in the Blue Mountains, where she met Norman Lindsay. He encouraged her to paint and sought her to attend the East Sydney Technical College where some of her teachers were Douglas Dundas, Fred Leist and Roy Davies. Helen first visited the outback of NSW in 1948, then, year after year saw Helen visit all of the Northern Territory; parts of Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.

Introduction 6 The Colours of Wilcannia 9 Yuendumu 12 Beswick Station 18 Papunya 20 Napperby 26 Areyonga 39 Mbunghara 44 Chambers Pillar 56 Docker River 61 Kintore 74 Return to Docker River 78 Maryvale 86 The Paintings 102 Index 104