St Paul’s College has received a generous gift of ten significant Aboriginal artworks from Professor Ian Constable AO and the Hon Dr Elizabeth Constable AM.
Displayed in the College’s Mansfield Library, the collection brings artistic traditions from across northern and central Australia into the heart of College life. Interpretive information accompanying each work enhances its value as a resource for learning, reflection and a deeper appreciation of Country, culture and story for students.
At the official unveiling on 18 September, Ian reflected on the couple’s long engagement with Aboriginal communities and artists: “During my work providing healthy eyesight to many, Liz and I had the enormous privilege of giving back to remote communities by purchasing their art. We have so much of it that we have been scaling down and giving it away to our most cherished galleries and institutions—and St Paul’s is one of those.”
Professor Ian Constable AO, at College 1960-64, is an internationally renowned ophthalmologist whose career has united clinical excellence, research, teaching and service. A graduate of the University of Sydney, he undertook advanced retinal research and clinical training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard University before moving to Western Australia in 1975 as the inaugural Lions Chair of Ophthalmology at The University of Western Australia and foundation Professor of Ophthalmology and retinal surgeon at Royal Perth Hospital. As founding Managing Director of the Lions Eye Institute from 1983 to 2009, he helped establish Western Australia as an international centre for ophthalmic research, training and patient care. He also advanced eye health in remote and rural Western Australia and across Asia through screening programs, surgical teaching and postgraduate education. Now Patron of the Lions Eye Institute, he continues to consult at the Institute in Nedlands and at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
The Hon Dr Elizabeth Constable AM is a distinguished former Western Australian parliamentarian whose public service has been defined by independence, integrity and a strong commitment to education and accountable government. First elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1991, she represented Floreat and, later, Churchlands until her retirement in 2013. In 2008, she became Western Australia’s first independent Member of Parliament to serve as a Minister of the Crown, holding the portfolios of Education, Tourism and Women’s Interests. She became the longest-serving woman in the history of the Western Australian Parliament in 2011 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019.
The Constables’ generosity to St Paul’s extends their lifelong commitment to medicine, education and community service. Their gift enriches the College’s cultural and educational life and will enable the stories embodied in these works to be shared with future generations. The collection comprises:
-Marika Mung, East Kimberley, Western Australia, Ngarrgurun Country, 2008—draws on Dreaming stories associated with Texas Downs and Warmun, exploring ancestral connection, land-based knowledge and cultural memory through bold forms and an earthy palette.
-Mary Punchi Clement, Kalumburu, Western Australia, Garday and Jelagu, 2015—uses natural ochre in an intricate depiction of Country, with a Gwion figure expressing the interconnectedness of land, water and spiritual presence.
-Lydia Balbal, Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia, Martakubu, 2008—evokes the desert through vibrant colour and rhythmic marks suggestive of claypans, dunes and rock hollows.
-Regina Karadada, Kalumburu, Western Australia, Wandjina, 2020—depicts ancestral figures associated with the cultural and spiritual traditions of the north-west Kimberley.
-Angelia Pwerle, Ahalpere (Utopia), Northern Territory, Bush Plum, 2005—uses meticulously painted dots to evoke the physical and spiritual landscape of Ahalpere, north-east of Alice Springs. Its topographical rhythms convey connection to Country and the Bush Plum Dreaming, including the wind-borne dispersal of seeds and the fruit’s nourishment in the desert.
-Djambu Barra Barra, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Kangaroo & Devil, 1997—depicts skeletal Mokuy, or spirit figures, among woomeras. Playing the didgeridoo and one has a dilly bag near his ear like a telephone; together, the figures evoke funerary themes.
-Jimmy Nerrimah, Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia, Kuntil Kuntil, 1999—depicts a jila, or waterhole, near where the artist grew up: a significant meeting place and ceremonial site.
-Lalla West, Gibson Desert, Western Australia, Seven Sisters II, 1998—interprets the Seven Sisters Dreaming through footprints tracing physical and ancestral journeys and linking Country, Dreaming and identity.
-Linus Waralapini, Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory, Mosquito Turtle, 2006—combines Tiwi ceremonial designs with spiritual relationships between Country and ceremony, using geometric forms and natural ochres from Melville Island.
-Pedro Wonaemirri, Melville Island, Northern Territory, Pwoja, 2004—is a work on paper in natural ochres depicting a traditional body-painting design used in ceremony.
Each work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, strengthening the collection’s provenance and its value as a teaching resource. Together, the ten works form a compelling new presence in the Mansfield Library and an enduring gift to the College community.
