Design and Art Australia Online

Milton Budge, Thunggutti painter, was born on the 10th May, 1941 at Burnt Bridge Mission, Kempsey, NSW. He spent his early years on the Mission before being removed at the age of 13 by the Aborigines Welfare Board to nearby Kinchela Boys Home where he spent the rest of his childhood.

After completing his High School Leaving Certificate at Kinchela, Budge was taken by the same Aborigines Welfare Board to Glebe to have an IQ test at the newly formed Tranby Aboriginal College. The test concluded that he was bright enough to become an accountant, however this vocation was not accessible to Aboriginal people at that time. Instead Budge undertook an apprenticeship in auto-mechanics at Willoughby on Sydney’s north shore and did his study at Ultimo Technical College. This work paid 5 pounds and 5 shillings per week, which after rent, travel and food expenses left Budge with only five shillings. He lasted 12 months working under these tight financial conditions before gaining new employment as a Telegram Delivery Boy for the Kings Cross Post Office in Williams Street, Kings Cross. This job too, only lasted 12 months as the lure of home and country was too strong and so he returned to Burnt Bridge Mission in 1960 where he undertook casual seasonal labour working on local farms.

Budge maintained an interest in art that began in childhood and painted landscapes in oils. In 1987 Budge began painting and said of his intention at that time that he “wanted to incorporate European and Aboriginal styles together – to combine the two”. In 1989 he was a founding member of the Kempsey Koori Artists along with David Fernando, Mary Duroux, Raymond Paul Button, Sharon Elaine Smith and his cousin Robert Campbell Jnr.

Budge was commissioned to create two murals in the Kempsey region. The first commission in 1987 was for the Booroongen-Djugun Aboriginal Corporation’s Aged Care Facility (with Sharon Smith) at Kempsey and the second mural in 1989, was painted onto the Water Towers at Crescent Head. The Kempsey Koori Artists group disbanded in 1992. Budge works with synthetic polymer on canvas and his paintings depict Dreaming Stories told to him by his grandmother, memories of life on Burnt Bridge Mission or cultural memories of Aboriginal life before the European arrival. His paintings are created using soft pastel colours that at times seem at odds with the content of his work in particular his Mission paintings, which often depict the sad, cruel and strict regime of a life lived on a New South Wales Aboriginal mission mid 20th century.

Budge’s first exhibition was a group show titled “Kempsey Koori Artists” at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative in Sydney in 1989. At that time Boomalli was only two years old and in staging this exhibition announced the Kempsey group of artists to the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal art world. Broader appreciation for Budge’s work came soon after when in 1989, the same year as the Boomalli show, he entered his painting Ration Day On Burnt Bridge in the 6th Annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award held at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT). The painting won the Best Painting (European Medium) category. The following year Budge had two solo exhibitions at Roz MacAllam Gallery in Brisbane and Framed Gallery in Darwin and participated in “Balance” at the Queensland Art Gallery.

In 1992 he continued to show his work across the country with the exhibition “Flash Pictures” at the National Gallery of Australia and “New Art Six” at the Roz MacAllam Gallery. The National Gallery of Australia again showed his work in 1994 in an exhibition titled “Heritage”. During the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Budge occupied a stall showcasing and selling his paintings at the Olympic site at Homebush Bay and in 2001 the Lismore Regional Gallery produced the exhibition, “My Style”, which showcased the works of Budge alongside the works of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists founding member, Jeffrey Samuels and local Lismore artist, Digby Moran. In 2003 Budge was invited to participate in the exhibition “Messages from the Fringe” (a satellite exhibition for the Sydney Opera House’s 2003 annual Message Sticks program) at the Walkabout Gallery in Leichhardt, Sydney, where his work, Fish and Shellfish 2003 was aquired by the Australian National Maritime Museum.

In 2007 Budge’s work, Ration day times (Working for food rations, Collecting rations and rations), a diptych of synthetic polymer on canvas that depicts a ration day on Burnt Bridge Mission won the2007 Parliament of NSW Indigenous Art Prize. This work now forms part of the Parliament of NSW art collection.

Writers:

Allas, Tess Note:

Date written:

2007

Last updated:

2011

Status:

peer-reviewed