Aboriginal Law Bulletin --- "Obituary -- Andrew Crocker" [1988] AboriginalLawB 46; (1988) 1(34) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2

• Obituary – Andrew Crocker

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Obituary – Andrew Crocker

Friends and associates of Andrew Crocker were shocked and aggrieved to hear of his untimely death in Namibia in September.

He was killed in a huge bomb blast in the Continental Hotel in the main street of the Namibian capital, Windhoek. An Englishman by birth, and a naturalised Australian by choice, he spent several months of each year growing cider apples in Somerset, and the rest of the time in the Central Western Desert of Australia offering his skills and compassion to Aborigines engaged in making and marketing their art.

His extensive experience in the Australian desert saw him engaged in the difficult world of Aboriginal advancement, where so often self-styled supporters of Aboriginal enterprise ignore all important ethical questions in favour of economics and artistic acceptability.

After assisting Nugget Coombes in the mid-70s on Aboriginal affairs, Andrew was appointed art advisor in 1980 to the Aboriginal company, Papunya Tula. In this role he oversaw the consolidation of the company as one of the most successful Aboriginal-owned enterprises. By convincing both Australians and international art intellectuals to widen their perspectives of Western contemporary art to embrace the art of all cultures, he was instrumental in taking contemporary Aboriginal art out of the tourist shops and into art galleries.

Crocker’s last major project, the book and Australian traveling exhibition of the work of Charlie Tjaruru Tjungurrayi, from Kintore in Central Australia, addressed the common insensitivity to the individual Aboriginal interest, whilst making pointed reference to those who attempt to form bridges between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal culture, and who neglect to listen to the voices of the artists themselves.

He wrote;

It almost goes without saying that it is not possible adequately to appraise an art form without considering the social context in which it arises.
Further, where artists make certain assertions in their work I feel that we should pay the courtesy of listening to them if we patronise them.
It seems to me more than distasteful to collect their work while turning a stony face to what they say, or to their circumstances.

He believed that the discovery of Western painting materials offered Aborigines an opportunity to assert their identity, and that their recognition of this opportunity gave proof to their inherent adaptability as a people.

Andrew Crocker would always dwell on the true nature of achievement and was one of only a few cautionary voices particularly in this bicentennial year, to demand more information, but above all, to urge us to listen more carefully.