Design and Art Australia Online

Simpson Kelly, Noongar artist born c. 1936, was the son of Henry and Bella Kelly . Simpson Kelly and his brothers Goldie Kelly , Flemming Kelly and Greg Kelly spent part of their childhood at the Carrolup Native Settlement in Katanning. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Carrolup was managed by Noel White, who, along with his wife Lily, encouraged their young charges to paint and draw the landscape around the settlement. The resulting works were toured and sold to collectors in Australia and internationally, and the Carrolup children artists are now highly acclaimed for the distinctive style they created. A pastel work created by Kelly when he was twelve years old, titled The Creek (1948), is in the collection of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology. This work was included in the 'Koorah Coolingah (children long ago)’ exhibition that was staged at the Katanning Arts Centre and the Western Australian Museum in Perth during the 2006 Perth International Arts Festival. Bella Kelly worked at the Settlement in its earlier years and remained living in the region of the settlement over some of the years that her boys were interned there (Caroline Narkle, pers. comm., 2009). Bella went on to become a renowned artist who is very highly thought of in the southwest of Western Australia, and whose works are associated with the Carrolup legacy and style.

Kelly had several children with Lorraine Kelly (nee Williams). His three daughters, Priscilla Kelly , Grace Kelly and Lynette Kelly were raised in Katanning and Tambellup, and paint in association with Mungart Boodja Art Centre in Katanning.
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Writers:

Fisher, Laura

Date written:

2009

Last updated:

2011