Name George Chaloupka | ||
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Died October 18, 2011, Darwin, Australia Books Journey in Time: The World's Longest Continuing Art Tradition : the 50,000 Year Story of the Australian Aboriginal Rock Art of Arnhem Land | ||
George chaloupka 1932 2011 4 11 11
George Jiří Chaloupka OAM, FAHA (6 September 1932 – 18 October 2011) was an expert on Indigenous Australian rock art. He identified and documented thousands of rock art sites. As a result of Chaloupka's work on the sites, a new "definitive chronological sequence to these paintings was developed". Providing evidence that Indigenous people had occupied the land for much longer than what was previously accepted by the academic community.
Contents
- George chaloupka 1932 2011 4 11 11
- George chaloupka passes away
- Early life
- Employment
- Academic career
- State funeral
- References
George chaloupka passes away
Early life
Chaloupka was born in Týniště nad Orlicí, Czechoslovakia. At the age of 17 he left the country, fleeing the communist regime. Arriving in Australia in 1950 as a refugee, he stayed for a number of years in Perth. In 1956, with his older brother, Chaloupka headed for the Melbourne Olympics, travelling via Darwin. It only took one night for Chaloupka to be enchanted by the land and its people.
Employment
Deciding to stay in the Territory, he found employment with the Water Resources Department. Working for the government as a hydrologist, he travelled widely across the Top End. It was in 1958 that he found the rock art galleries in the east of the territory. Chaloupka gazed at the ceiling of a cave covered with art "and his heart was lost".
Chaloupka joined the Northern Territory Museum in 1973, to begin his life's work as a rock art researcher. He worked at the Museum, the main museum in the Northern Territory, for over two decades. He developed his career to become a well known rock art historian and finally Curator Emeritus at the Museum.
In 1986, Chaloupka was a recipient of a grant from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies of which he was a member. He examined the protection and conservation of rock art of the Wardaman people at a site at Malgawo, East Arnhem Land.
In 2008 the George Chaloupka Fellowship was established "to promote and support research and conservation of Aboriginal rock art located in Arnhem Land Plateau region in the Northern Territory of Australia."
Academic career
Highly regarded in academia, with a long list of papers credited to his name, Chaloupka was the first President of the Australian Rock Art Research Association. As well as a visiting fellow at the Department of Prehistory in the Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University.
State funeral
Chaloupka died in Royal Darwin Hospital. A state funeral was held on 4 November 2011. A Smoking ceremony was held as part of the funeral.