Gwoya Jungarai

1950 stamp

Gwoya Jungarai (Anmatyerre, c. 1895 – 28 March 1965), known as One Pound Jimmy, was an Australian Aboriginal man of the Anmatyerr people of central Australia.

His relatives were killed in the Coniston Massacre in the Northern Territory in 1928.[1][2] He was the first named Aboriginal person to appear on an Australian stamp, in 1950. The design of the Australian 2 dollar coin was inspired by a drawing of him by artist Ainslie Roberts.[3]

It is said he got his One Pound name because whenever asked how much it would cost to buy one of the boomerangs he made, his answer was "One pound, boss".[4] However, that has been questioned.

Two stamps were issued in 1950 and 1952 with his picture - an 8½ pence stamp and a 2 shillings and 6 pence (half crown) stamp - featuring similar images of him in profile, looking upwards.[5][6] They were based on a photograph taken by Roy Dunstan in 1935 for Australian Geographic which appeared on the cover of Walkabout magazine in 1936.[7] That photograph represented a typical Australian Aboriginal man and was well known in the 1950s following the stamp issues. He appeared on the cover of Walkabout again in September 1950.

Two of his sons, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri were noted artists, and one of the latter's paintings was the subject of another Australian stamp.[8]

References

  1. ↑ ABC Radio transcript, program Radio Eye "Greetings from White Australia, 1955", broadcast Sunday 22 October 2000
  2. ↑ Lane, Bernard. “The $2 head? It's a toss-up.” The Australian, 21 November 2001.
  3. ↑ Royal Australian Mint - Designs & Products - Two Dollars
  4. ↑ Faces of Australia stamp their place in society, Steve Meacham, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 June 2002
  5. ↑ 156 years collecting Australian graphic art, Australia Post Priority magazine, issue 32
  6. ↑ The Australian Aborigine, Harvey Terris, Fundy Stamp Collectors Club, September 2001
  7. ↑ Gwoja Tjungurrayi: the man behind the image
  8. ↑ The Story of "One Pound Jimmy