Geoffrey Bardon

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Geoffrey Robert Bardon (1940, Sydney – 2003, Taree) was an Australian school teacher who was instrumental in bringing Aboriginal art of the Western Desert, or "dot art", to the attention of the world.

Bardon studied law for three years at the University of Sydney, before changing to study art education at the National Art School in Sydney, graduating in 1966. He taught art at various New South Wales country high schools before taking up a posting in 1971 to teach at the primary school at Papunya, a remote Aboriginal settlement 240 km northwest of Alice Springs.

While he only stayed 18 months, defeated in the end by a hostile white authority, his legacy saw the beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement.

After encouraging the children to record their sand patterns in paint, he went on to encourage the senior men to paint their Honey Ant Dreaming on the school doors, preserving their traditional Dreamings, or Tjukurpa, and stories in paint.

The artistic movement unleashed at Papunya spread over Central Australia and has since achieved international acclaim. The Western Desert Painting Movement has provided the rest of the world with new ways of seeing.

Bardon experienced many difficulties in his time in the desert, due to the indifference, neglect and criticism of government departments towards his work – the Honey Ant Dreaming mural painted by the Aboriginal elders was painted over with white paint by the authorities. Eventually, Bardon suffered a nervous breakdown and, upon his return to Sydney, underwent a period of deep sleep therapy with the notorious Dr Harry Bailey, which left him weakened.

He worked closely with the Aboriginal painters who became the founders of the Papunya Tula painting movement during 1971 to 1973, and devoted many years after this to documenting and promoting the Aboriginal art he so admired.

Geoffrey Bardon was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988 for service to the preservation and development of traditional Aboriginal art forms. He is survived by his wife Dorn and two sons, James and Michael.

1 Bibliography
2 Filmography
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Bibliography

Geoffrey Bardon, Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert,1979, ISBN 0-86914-160-0.
Geoffrey Bardon, Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert, 1991.
Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story, 2004, ISBN 0-522-85110-X, Miegunyah.