The Dawn of Art

The Dawn of Art' is a set of six drawings by three Aboriginal men identified as Billamook, Ilontereba and Mindilpilpil. The works were gathered by John George Knight who, as Deputy Sheriff of Palmerston (now Darwin), had responsibility for the welfare and reform of prison inmates in Fannie Bay Gaol. Knight recognised the artistic talents of the Aboriginal prisoners and had them produce most of the works for the installation entitled 'The Dawn of Art'. The works were exhibited at the 1888 Intercolonial Exhibition in Melbourne and are the only set of artworks from the exhibition that remains in their original format. Interestingly the works were exhibited under the category of 'art' rather than 'primitive art', which works by Aboriginal artists were designated in following decades.

Billiamook, a Larrakiya man was amongst the Larrakiya people who greeted the first British colonists that arrived by boat in 1869 on a survey expedition to establish a permanent settlement at Palmerston. He learned English and by the 1880s was retained as an interpreter for the police, courts and prisons. He completed the two drawings in the top row centre and bottom row, left. Mindilpilpil was also a Larrakiya and as an inmate of Fannie Bay Gaol in the 1880s, produced most of the works for Knight. His drawings appear here in the top row, left, top row, right and bottom row, centre. Ilontereba was a Wulwulan man from the area of Pine Creek and the South Alligator River east of Darwin. He was serving a life sentence in Fannie Bay Goal at the time and his work here is in the bottom row, right.