This story is about some very famous Australian indigenous art. The paintings that you’ll see come from Papunya, a small community in Central Australia.



CATHERINE LIDDLE: At the Araluen Centre in Alice Springs, curator Tim Rollason is overseeing the final touches to an exhibition that has generated a big buzz among those who appreciate Australia's indigenous art and its modern genesis in the Western Desert.

These paintings from Papunya in Central Australia belong to a time when indigenous artists were more accustomed to painting on rocks and sand than on canvas, and the world had yet to hear of the internationally acclaimed Western Desert artists.

Already this collection is stirring excitement beyond the Territory.

JUDITH RYAN: These paintings are of immense importance.

In fact, I can't think of any more important works, in relation to their role in changing the whole history of Aboriginal art and the way we perceive it now.

CATHERINE LIDDLE: It was Papunya school teacher Geoff Bardon who encouraged the men in the remote Central Australian community to paint children's stories for display on the school wall in the early 1970s.

TIM ROLLASON: It was done purely to teach, which is really what painting is all about.

And while it's turned into a very lucrative business for lots of artists and art centres and Central Australian Aboriginal people, it's really there to teach culture.

CATHERINE LIDDLE: The finished works were left lying around till the mid '80s, when 14 of them were found by chance behind a locker at the Papunya School.

They were given for safekeeping to the museum and art gallery in Darwin, including this piece by Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, made famous because it featured on the cover of Geoffrey Bardon's first book, 'Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert'.

CATHERINE LIDDLE: The paintings have now caught the attention of curators at public galleries interstate.

Exhibitions beyond the Territory are already being negotiated.

In cooperation with the Papunya School Council, the Araluen Cultural precinct in Alice Springs has begun researching a book that will accompany any tour of the artworks.

TIM ROLLASON: Any profits or royalties from that book would go into a special trust fund and that money would then go towards building the cultural centre.

CATHERINE LIDDLE: A national tour is still two to three years away, but it's hoped that once the tour is over, the artworks will return to Papunya, once the community has built a suitable space to house them safely.