Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra

Long Jack Phillipus was born c. 1932 at Kalipinypa which is a major Water Dreaming site. He grew up in the bush west of Mt Farewell, in his mother’s country.

Long Jack and his family moved and lived in Haasts Bluff when he was a teenager. He worked as a stockman and a timber cutter. It was at this time he married Georgette Napaltjarri and they had two sons and three daughters.

Long Jack moved to Papunya with his family in 1962 and still lives there today. He worked as a gardener and groundsman, along with Billy Stockman. Long Jack has been part of the Papunya painting movement since the beginning of the 70s when he was a Councillor at Papunya. He was one of the founding members of the painting group in 1971 and had a great relationship with the school teacher Geoffrey Bardon.

Long Jack and Billy Stockman painted small murals on the school walls; a Wallaby Dreaming and a Widow’s Dreaming. Long Jack, Billy Stockman & Kaapa Tjampitjinpa collaborated with other Pintupi tribesmen to paint the large Honey Ant Mural on the outer wall of the Papunya school from June to August 1971. It was painted at the school in Papunya where Geoffrey Bardon taught. In exchange, the tribesmen received paint from Bardon.

Long Jack’s and the Pintupi elders approached Bardon after observing him encourage his Aboriginal students to paint patterns similar to those he saw them painting in the sand for one another during their free time. The Long Jack and the Pintupi elders were eager to revitalise their own painting traditions, which until then had been mainly focused on “sand and body painting.”
The Honey Ant Dreaming mural was revised at least two times before it was painted over by a maintenance worker in 1974. The original version contained symbols representing the honey ant Ancestors. This version was revised because some elders believed it revealed too many tribal secrets. In the newer version the original, knot-like patterns were replaced by simple cartoon-like representations, which Bardon objected to. The third version included symbols chosen in advance by all parties involved.

In 1983 Long Jack won the Northern Territory Golden Jubilee Art Award. The following year in 1984 he won first prize in the Alice Springs Caltex Art Award and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor and remains a leading figure in the Christian community and the men’s ceremonial sphere. He was chairman of Papunya Tula Artists in the early 1990s. His works feature in many major collections and private collections around the world.

In recent times Long Jack and Michael Nelson Tjakamarra realised that Papunya Tula Artists no longer focussed on art from Papunya haven set up at Kintore near the WA border. Warumpi Arts was set up by the Papunya Council about 1998 and folded in 2004 after funds for Warumpi were wrongfully diverted by elders. The story of this is detailed in “King Brown Country”. A few years ago, under the direction of Long Jack and Michael Nelson, Papunya Tjupi Arts was established and it continues today as the local art centre at Papunya.