A painting by Aboriginal artist Rover Thomas depicting the destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy has set a near record price at auction in Melbourne last week.
The 1986 work, Bugaltji, Lissadell Country, sold for $660,000 at Sotheby’s 10th Aboriginal art auction in Melbourne.
The painting was based on a Dreaming story revealed to Thomas by the spirit of an aunt killed in a car accident on a road flooded by the cyclone, which devastated Darwin on Christmas Day, 1974.
The sale price was the second-highest ever achieved for an Aboriginal art work, Sotheby’s Aboriginal art director Tim Klingender said.
It was bought by a British telephone bidder who had viewed the painting at an earlier showing in London and had fallen in love with it, Sotheby’s said.
