AustLit

In 1959 orthopaedic surgeon Dr Stuart Scougall financed the acquisition by the Art Gallery of New South Wales of seventeen Tutini ( Pukumani graveposts) that had been carved and painted at Milikapiti on Melville Island in October 1958. These graveposts are used in a ceremony that eases the passage of the deceased to the world of the dead. Art Gallery deputy director Tony Tuckson and collector Scougall made expeditions to Arnhem Land and the Northern Territory coast in 1958 and 1959 to collect Aboriginal art. The trips were funded by the Art Gallery and some of the art collected went into the gallery's collection, while other works were donated later by Scougall. His other gifts to the Art Gallery included 200 bark paintings in 1963. Scougall also published Australian Aboriginal Bark Painting : A Brief Survey (1963) and The One-Leg Stance in the Aborigine (date unknown).