Bendigo Pottery, 1974

This ceramic mug is in the shape of Albert Namatjira (1902–59), Indigenous artist and activist. Namatjira was a Western Arrernte man from the Northern Territory. Raised on a mission, he eventually became the first Aboriginal man from the Northern Territory to be released from restrictions which made Indigenous people wards of the state. He remains one of Australia’s most well-known and prolific Indigenous artists.

The handle of this mug is shaped as a boomerang, an icon of indigenous Australians; ironically, Namatjira’s people did not traditionally make or use boomerangs.