On a visit in June 2009 to Jan’s friend Jane, who was working in aboriginal health in Alice Springs, we drove out to Hermannsburg Mission, known for the home of, and the landscapes of Albert Namatjira.

If you’re curious about the grave markers’ bible references…

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. 1:3 All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 1:5 And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not. 1:6 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 1:7 The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. 1:8 He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. 1:9 There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world. 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. 1:11 He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  The Gospel According to Saint John

‘In January 2013, two gum trees that featured prominently in Namatjira’s watercolours were destroyed in an arson attack. The trees were in the process of being heritage-listed. Art writer Susan McCulloch called the attack an “appalling and a tragic act of cultural vandalism” ‘