John Moriarty (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Moriarty (b. 1938) is an Indigenous Australian artist, Government advisor and former football (soccer) player. He is probably most famous, as founder of the Balarinji Design Studio, for painting Qantas 747s with Aboriginal motifs.

He was born in Borroloola, Northern Territory. His mother was a tribal Aboriginal woman, who spoke seven Aboriginal languages; his father was an Irishman from County Kerry. As such he was classified as half-caste. The policy at that time was generally to remove half-caste children from "full-blood" mothers. He was removed from his mother at four years of age, making him part of the stolen generation. Up till that age, he spoke only the Yanyuwa language. His Aboriginal name is Jumbana and his ceremonial name is Kundareri.

He was placed in a home for Aboriginal children west of Sydney, and a few years later was moved to Adelaide. It was some years later before he met his mother again.

Prior to founding Balarinji, John was a public servant in various departments of Aboriginal affairs, both state and federal. He was selected to play in an Australian national football (soccer) team squad but did not play due to the cancellation of a tour.

In 2000, he published the story of his life, through Penguin entitled Saltwater Fella.