Her paintings have been shown around the world, yet this artist is forgotten, slowly dying in poverty and misery.
Have a look; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-05/utopia-aged-care-kathleen-ngale/8651086
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Oosterman Treats Blog 
July 6, 2017 at 1:11 am |
Heartbreaking and so unnecessary.
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July 6, 2017 at 10:49 pm |
I believe she wants to stay in her own country and surroundings but why not give her good care?
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July 7, 2017 at 1:08 am
Exactly right.
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July 6, 2017 at 4:43 am |
Gerard: …her Treatment ! There’s none.
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July 6, 2017 at 10:50 pm |
It’s all so weird and callous. Where does all this inhumanity come from?
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July 6, 2017 at 7:56 am |
The questions that come to my mind are: *How much of those thousands of dollars” for her art were paid to her in the first place ? *If some of that money was paid to her, how much support and assistance did she get for the spending / saving of it ? *How much of any money she was paid went on the support of her own extended family / tribe / sub tribe ? It seems very possible to me that she may have been one of their few breadwinners, or the only one.
Having said all the above, I agree the situation is shocking and something constructive should have been done for these elderly people a long time ago.
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July 6, 2017 at 10:54 pm |
No doubt, the money she earned went to her family and family in aboriginal culture is big and extensive. But, where is the support in decent housing. Solar energy would give refrigeration, a washing machine, hot water, a phone etc. How difficult is that?
I suppose her painting earnings went to dealers, galleries and all sorts of hanger-on’s as well.
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July 6, 2017 at 11:01 pm
Solar energy here is still very expensive to set up but it may not be so bad in Australia. Still expenditure on that would achieve big returns for remote communities I am sure.
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July 6, 2017 at 11:48 pm
Solar energy is now available at a fraction of what it cost a decade ago. The uptake in Australia on roof solar panels has been phenomenal. Australia with its unlimited sun is ideal for isolated communities to be self sufficient in energy.
What is lacking is the care. We take care of beached whales but not of people.
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July 7, 2017 at 5:19 am
Your second reply has not shown up on my notifications panel, so I will reply to it here. It is good that solar energy is being used so much in Australia. I agree that the lack of care is appalling.
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July 6, 2017 at 8:15 am |
It is heartbreaking and absolutely unbelievable. I feel, something like this just cannot be the truth. It ought not be the truth. Shame, shame, shame. What sort of society are we?
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July 6, 2017 at 10:59 pm |
You ask; what sort of society are we? I suppose the priorities for a long time have drifted away from the essentials that what a caring society ought to be. We prefer non cricket talk and football punch news.
I understand she has chosen to live where she is now. It is their ancestral home, but why not provide her and her extended family with basic care?
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July 7, 2017 at 3:00 am
Right, Gerard, basic care, that is what is needed. However, since this is a remote area, imagine how much it costs to deliver! There are dozens and dozens of aboriginal painters from this area. Each of their paintings is on the market for thousands of Dollars. Of course the galleries keep as much of that money as possible. With the taxes they ought to pay the government could provide all the basic services in these remote areas, couldn’t they? Why has so far no official be in a position to achieve this? I just cannot understand this. Why do they get away with this, why are they not obliged to making it a priority?
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July 7, 2017 at 4:38 am
The aboriginals of Northern Europe (Samis) faced similar problems of isolation and are also spread over enormous distances, Uta.
They too live nomadic lives coping with a harsh climate.
The Sami children were all put into schools. That was the first priority. When the isolation meant they could not travel to schools it was solved by boarding the children during the weeks and back with parents during week-ends.
The Samis are now part of Scandinavian culture but are also encouraged to keep and evolve own unique culture. They have their own status and own official language and in some cases enjoying own self determining forms of government.
It works.
Here some information:https://placesjournal.org/article/far-north/?gclid=CPaU4–s9tQCFVAKKgodFHsBDQ
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July 6, 2017 at 6:07 pm |
Indeed heartbreaking. Where is the humanity?
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July 6, 2017 at 11:03 pm |
This lack of basic care for aboriginal tribes and clans has never really been tackled in a sensible way, mainly because it is white man’s culture that determines how and where this care should be delivered.
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July 6, 2017 at 11:10 pm |
Here is Kathleen Ngare’s work.
https://www.google.com.au/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1200&bih=616&q=kathleen+ngale+paintings&oq=Kathleen+Ngale&gs_l=img.1.2.0j0i24k1l2.3498.3498.0.6485.1.1.0.0.0.0.183.183.0j1.1.0….0…1..64.img..0.1.181.Vgcg-wf-fSc
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July 8, 2017 at 2:01 pm |
I couldn’t quite figure out whether the granddaughter mentioned and Ms. Kunoth-Monks were the same person. In any case, I was most interested in this: “Her relative Rosalie Kunoth-Monks has deplored her living conditions and is calling for improvements to be made to aged care for the elderly Aboriginal people of the region.”
I’d be most interested to know why her family isn’t involved in her care. I understand that the elderly can be, shall we say, firm in their opinions about how they want to live, and I understand that circumstances can complicate things, but still: when my mother required care, my first thought wasn’t calling on the government to provide it. Cultural differences, perhaps — especially since I know so little about aboriginal culture.
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July 8, 2017 at 11:32 pm |
I don’t have the answer either, Linda. If we regard the local chosen government as representing the good of society why not provide needed care?
The distances are huge and aboriginal people generally look very well after each other but at some point they need more than help from relatives.
Access to electricity and water is what springs to my mind and often are not provided. A telephone too could be handy.
My parents went back to Holland as care for their chronically sick schizophrenic son were and are still not provided in Australia, a country, perhaps like the US that gives taxation cuts and therefore lacks the revenue to pay the cost of good societal care with health, education and general welfare.
My parents enjoyed a good retirement and felt happy that their son was safe and well looked after. As a society, it works much better.
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July 14, 2017 at 4:07 am |
Man’s inhumanity to man. Those living conditions are just about as bad if not worse, as the manner in which native American Indians are treated. Relegated to prescribed areas by the government and then treated in a despicable manner. It seems the US and Australia are much the same.
Does anybody give a damn about these people?
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