Carrolup art returns to its heart

It will be a cherished homecoming for the lost work of Carrolup's Noongar artists, when the Koolark Koort Koorliny (Heart Coming Home) exhibition returns to Katanning this September.

The artwork, created by children who lived at the Carrolup Native Settlement near Katanning during the time of the assimilation policy, had been lost, only to be discovered in storage at Colgate University in New York, 64 years after the settlement's closure.

Many residents hold a strong connection with the settlement area and Timothy Flowers, who attended Carrolup for most of his childhood, said it would be a very emotional time.

"Those of us who attended Carrolup, we are all brothers and sisters, because we all suffered in the same way so we understood," he said.

"Many of us have forgiven and moved forward, but I feel sorry for the ones who will never get to see the exhibition, or the sorry days, who only saw the anguish."

The Carrolup Elders Reference Group, made up of five Noongar elders and eight Curtin University staff, was established late last year, after it was identified the Noongar community needed input into how the artworks could best be used.

Committee member Garry Ryder said this exhibition had already opened new family connections and stories in the area, and they were hoping it would return to Katanning permanently.

"This exhibition is so special, and nobody realised its importance until the late 1990s, it was just artwork," he said.

Koolark Koort Koorliny is from the Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork at Curtin University, and will be on display in Katanning on September 18.