Freddie Timms was given the bush name, Ngarrmaliny, after the place he was born at, Police Hole, around 1946 on the East Kimberley cattle station of Bedford Downs. Growing up on station properties, Freddie Timms learned all the riding and stock handling skills at an early age. He worked on most of the surrounding stations, including Bedford Downs, Lissadell, Mabel Downs, Old Argyle, Texas Downs and Bow River Station.
After the stockmen’s dispute in the seventies, which resulted in the removal of many Aboriginal people from their homelands, Freddie Timms lived in the Guda-Guda Community at Wyndham, after which he and his family relocated to Warmun/Turkey Creek in 1985. Bow River Station was eventually granted by the Government to the Timms family, with Freddie’s uncle, the late Timmy Timms, as Chairperson.
Freddie Timms and his wife Beryline Mung live at the tiny community of Frog Hollow where Freddie paints his stories. He started painting in the late 1980s, using the knowledge and techniques that he had acquired by working and talking with the best of the Aboriginal artists at Warmun, such as Jack Britten, Hector Jandanay, Henry Wambini, Rover Thomas and his father-in-law, Paddy Jaminji. Freddie Timms’ representations of country are mainly based on real topographical features rather than mythological ones, often focusing on the landscape’s history and changes since white settlement.
Japingka Gallery has exhibited Freddie Timms’ paintings and the artist’s work has been included in a number of exhibitions including –
Freddie Timms (Ngarrmaliny Janama) lived as a child on Bow River and Lissadell Stations, later working as a stockman, handyman and fencer on several stations throughout the East Kimberley. He knew Rover Thomas when they both worked at Bow River and Texas Downs and danced and help paint boards for early performances of Thomass Gurirr-Gurirr. When he was living at Frog Hollow, south of Turkey Creek, in the 1980s, Joel Smoker of Waringarri Arts brought canvases to Jack Britten, Rover Thomas, Hector Jandany and his father-in-law, George Mung-Mung. Timms asked for canvases as well and has not stopped painting since. He paints in a style reminiscent of Thomas but recognisably his own, with expanses of paint lined with white dots. Many of his pictures are like aerial maps of the bones of the country where he lived and worked all his life. Mapping is on a topographic level showing features of the landscape such as black soil, red ground, sandy ground, hills, creeks and water holes as well as a historical and spiritual level, showing roads, stockyards, homesteads and dreaming places. Much of the country where he worked on Lissadell, a frequent painting subject, is now under the water of Lake Argyle formed by the damming of the Ord River.
Freddie Timms is one of the few Aboriginal artists from a traditional background who, on occasion, seeks to make a political statement in his work. He began exhibiting at Watters Gallery through an introduction from Tony Oliver, whom he had met in Melbourne. Later, he and Oliver set up a corporation (now Jirrawun Arts), to market work on a consignment basis for an increasingly wide group of Kimberley artists, including Paddy Bedford, Rusty Peters, Churchill Cann, Goody Barrett, Phyllis Thomas and his father's brother Timmy Timms. He also helped initiate the Neminuwarlin Performance group with his aunt and lead singer and dancer Peggy Patrick.
PROPERTY FORMERLY FROM THE COLLECTION OF HAROLD MITCHELL AC, MELBOURNE FREDDIE TIMMS (c1946-2017) Mule Creek 2009 natural earth pigments and synthetic binder on canvas 121.0 x 181.0 cm signed verso: F TIMMS bears inscription verso: FT271 accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Aranda Aboriginal Art, Melbourne (stock no.AAAFT271)
Freddie Timms was born on Bedford Downs Station south west of Turkey Greek and spent his childhood at Bow River and Lissadell Stations where he worked as a stockman, handyman, and fencer. He met and worked with Rover Thomas on Bow River and Texas Downs and participated in the dancing and preparation of boards for the early song and dance performances of Rover's Krill Krill. Freddie painted for Waringarri Arts from the late 1980s developing his own personal style working exclusively with earth pigment until the mid 1990s when he began experimenting with colour. His more vivid interpretations of his country were first exhibited with Frank Watters in Sydney, and later Rob Gould in Melbourne. His works are maps of his country imbued with its history and spiritual connections. They are typified by expanses of flat colour delineated by white dotting, according to topography and geology. Included are the black soil country, hills, creeks, watercourses and waterholes, roads, stockyards, homesteads and Dreaming places of his travels.
Freddie Timms was born on Bedford Downs Station south west of Turkey Greek and spent his childhood at Bow River and Lissadell Stations where he worked as a stockman, handyman, and fencer. He met and worked with Rover Thomas on Bow River and Texas Downs and participated in the dancing and preparation of boards for the early song and dance performances of Rover's Krill Krill.
Freddie Timms was born on Bedford Downs Station south west of Turkey Greek and spent his childhood at Bow River and Lissadell Stations where he worked as a stockman, handyman, and fencer. He met and worked with Rover Thomas on Bow River and Texas Downs and participated in the dancing and preparation of boards for the early song and dance performances of Rover's Krill Krill.
Freddie Timms was born at Police Hole in 1946 and followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a stockman at Lissadell Station. At the age of 20, he set out to explore and work on other stations. It was during this time that he met and worked alongside Rover Thomas who was to have a lasting influence on him. In 1985, he retired from the physically demanding stockman’s life and settled at the new community established at Warmun, where he worked as a gardener at the Argyle Mine. He eventually moved out to Frog Hollow with his wife Berylene Mung and their four children, taking a job as an environmental health worker and assuming responsibility for the general maintenance of the small community. Timms began painting during the 1990s and in a career that spanned more than 20 years, Timms became known for aerial map-like visions of country that are less concerned with ancestral associations as with tracing the responses and refuges of the Gidja people as they encountered the ruthlessness and brutality of colonisation. However, his political nature is characterised by more intimate interpretations of the experience rather than overtly political statements. In what first appeared as a new and beautiful sense of irregular geometry, soft yet boldly defined blocks of colour depicted the area that now lay beneath water. There had been no consultation with the traditional Gidja owners. The places where he and his countrymen used to walk and camp, along with all its ancestral burial grounds and sacred places, were simply buried beneath the rising waters.
FREDDIE TIMMS (B.1944) BILLY GOAT CREEK Ochre Gallery catalogue number N-1006-FT certificate of authenticity accompanies this artwork Ochre on canvas 60 x 100cm Estimate $5,000/8,000 AUD
Freddie Timms (Ngarrmaliny) Bedford Downs Station, WA (c,1944-2017) Blow Fly Dreaming, Wooloon Country on Texas Downs 2000 Ochres/pigment with acrylic binder on Belgian linen Inscribed verso Jirrawun Arts Certificate of Authenticity Catalogue no. FT42000-102, verso
FREDDIE TIMMS (1944-2017) Bow Emu 1997 synthetic polymer paint on canvas artist's name, title and date on gallery label verso titled on stretcher bar verso 180 x 180cm PROVENANCE: Watters Gallery, Sydney cat. no. 97/20/001 (label verso) The National Australia Bank Art Collection (label verso)
Freddie Timms (Ngarrmaliny) Bedford Downs Station, WA ((c,1944-2017)) Blow Fly Dreaming, Wooloon Country on Texas Downs 2000 Ochres/pigment with acrylic binder on Belgian linen Inscribed verso Jirrawun Arts Certificate of Authenticity Catalogue no. FT42000-102, verso
FREDDIE TIMMS (B.1944) PIPE CREEK PLAIN ON LISSADELL STATION Red Rock Art catalogue number KP2006 verso Natural earth pigments on canvas 90 x 120cm $6,000/8,000
Freddie Timms began painting in 1986, inspired by the elder artists already painting at Frog Hollow, a small outstation attached to the community at Warmun, Turkey Creek. Born at Police Hole c.1946, he followed in his father’s footsteps, following the stockman's life at Lissadell Station. At the age of 20, he set out to explore and work on other stations. It was during this time that he met and worked alongside Rover Thomas who was to have a lasting influence on him. In 1985, he left Lissadell once more to settle at the new community established at Warmun where he worked as a gardener at the Argyle Mine. In a career that spanned more than 20 years, Freddie Timms became known for aerial map-like visions of country that were less concerned with ancestral associations than with tracing the responses and refuges of the Gija people as they encountered the ruthlessness and brutality of colonisation. However, his political nature was characterised by more intimate interpretations of the experience rather than overtly political statements. Freddie Timms was foremost amongst those Gija artists of the second generation. His was a unique Gija perspective on the history of white interaction with his people. It is hard to think of another who expressed more poignantly through their art the sense of longing and the abiding loss that comes from the separation from land that embodies one’s spiritual home.
Freddie Timms was born at Police Hole in 1946 and followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a stockman at Lissadell Station. At the age of 20, he set out to explore and work on other stations. It was during this time that he met and worked alongside Rover Thomas who was to have a lasting influence on him. In 1985, he retired from the physically demanding stockman’s life and settled at the new community established at Warmun, where he worked as a gardener at the Argyle Mine. He eventually moved out to Frog Hollow with his wife Berylene Mung and their four children, taking a job as an environmental health worker and assuming responsibility for the general maintenance of the small community. Timms began painting during the 1990s and in a career that spanned more than 20 years, Timms became known for aerial map-like visions of country that are less concerned with ancestral associations as with tracing the responses and refuges of the Gidja people as they encountered the ruthlessness and brutality of colonisation. However, his political nature is characterised by more intimate interpretations of the experience rather than overtly political statements. In what first appeared as a new and beautiful sense of irregular geometry, soft yet boldly defined blocks of colour depicted the area that now lay beneath water. There had been no consultation with the traditional Gidja owners. The places where he and his countrymen used to walk and camp, along with all its ancestral burial grounds and sacred places, were simply buried beneath the rising waters. Bow Junction is on Lissadell Station, alongside Bow River Station to the south-west and west. This is the flat country of both stations, with the Bow River running into the Ord River. Good grazing land all round. Me mustered this part for both stations because it was where a lot of the fat cattle early in the muster were – around the waterholes and the Bow River. Bow River Station always has water and the manager shared the stockmen and the water.
FREDDIE TIMMS (c.1946-2017) (Gija Language Group) Pipe Creek 1999 natural earth pigments on linen inscribed verso with artist's name, title, date and Jirrawun cat. no. FT599.82 122 x 135cm PROVENANCE: Jirrawun Aboriginal Arts, Western Australia Watters Gallery, Sydney (label verso) Private collection, Melbourne Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, 19 June 2008, lot 237 Private collection, Melbourne
Freddie Ngarrmaliny Timms (circa 1944-2017) Untitled, 1994 inscribed verso: 'KIMBERLEY ART / FT02/94' natural earth pigments and synthetic polymer paint on linen 122.5 x 162.5cm (48 1/4 x 64in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
FREDDIE TIMMS (c.1946-2017) Redbutt Country c.1994 natural earth pigments and synthetic binder on linen inscribed verso with artist's name, title and Narrangunny Art Traders cat. no. NAT-0288 61 x 90.5cm PROVENANCE: Narrangunny Art Traders, Western Australia The Collection of Mrs. Al Diamond Sotheby's, Melbourne, Fine Australian, Aboriginal and International Paintings, 22 November 1999, lot 401 The Collection of Mr. Kelton, United States of America
FREDDIE TIMMS (NGARRMALINY JANAMA) (c.1946-2017) Daloobany Country (Rocky Creek) 1992 natural earth pigments on canvas inscribed verso with artist's name and Warringarri Aboriginal Arts cat. no's. S 3377 and AP3550 80 x 100cm PROVENANCE: Warringarri Aboriginal Arts, Kunanurra Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide The Collection of Mr. Kelton, United States of America, acquired 1993
FREDDIE TIMMS born c1946 Gija language group Bamboo Springs 2005 natural earth pigments on canvas 90.5 x 150.0 cm signed verso: F TIMMS bears inscription verso: FT187
FREDDIE TIMMS born 1944 Gija language group Pipe Creek 1999 natural earth pigments on linen 122.0 x 135.0 cm bears inscription verso: "PIPECREEK"/ FT599.82 1999/ F TIMMS
FREDDIE TIMMS (c1946-2017) Gija language group Untitled (Texas Creek Station) 1990 natural earth pigments on canvas 50.0 x 70.0 cm inscribed verso: WARINGARRI - ABORIGINAL - ARTS/ 5-2712/ AP3268 50-cm + 70 + CM +/ Freddy. [sic.] TIMMS. accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Western Australia
Freddie Timms began painting in 1986, inspired by the elder artists already painting at Frog Hollow, a small outstation attached to the community at Warmun, Turkey Creek. Born at Police Hole circa 1946, he followed in his fatherâs footsteps to the stockman life at Lissadell Station. At the age of twenty, he set out to explore and work on other stations. It was during this time that he met and worked alongside Rover Thomas who was to have a lasting influence on him. In 1985, he left Lissadell once more to settle at the new community established at Warmun, while working as a gardener at the nearby Argyle Mine. In a career that spanned more than 20 years, Freddy Timms became known for aerial map-like visions of country that are less concerned with ancestral associations than with tracing the responses and refuges of the Gija people as they encountered the ruthlessness and brutality of colonisation. The political nature of his work is characterised by the intimate interpretations of the experiences of his people. Freddie Timms is foremost amongst those Gija artists of the second generation. His was a unique Gija perspective on the history of white interaction with his people. It is hard to think of another artist who expressed more poignantly through their art the sense of longing and the abiding loss that comes from the forced separation from the land, oneâs spiritual home.
Work is titled "Joolinjii County." Lot is accompanied by the Certificate of Authenticity issued by Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery. Provenance: Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery (2019) | Private Collection, Aventura, Florida. About the collection: "My family has been collecting art since my grandmother moved to Vienna in 1945. My mother was born in Eastern Europe and grew up in Vienna where she acquired a deep knowledge and love of Biedermeier and Art Deco furniture. Throughout her life she taught my sister and I to love, collect, create, and support the arts. As my mother traveled and lived in many places around the world, her interests grew and she expanded her collection to all different types of art. My sister and I part with some of these treasures and hope that they will find loving homes."
Timms, Freddy (Indigenous Australian, born 1944/46), Dingo Dreaming, 1994, natural earth pigments with synthetic binder on linen canvas, 36 x 64 inches, inscribed in red on canvas reverse, Kimberley Art, FT 01/94, Provenance: Kimberley Art, Melbourne, Australia 1995; The Estate of James Winokur, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Cooee Art Indigenous Fine Art Auction "Freddie Timms began painting in 1986, inspired by the elder artists already painting at Frog Hollow, a small outstation attached to the community at Warmun, Turkey Creek. Born at Police Hole c.1946, he followed in his father+IBk-s footsteps to the stockman life at Lissadell Station. At the age of twenty, he set out to explore and work on other stations. It was during this time that he met and worked alongside Rover Thomas who was to have a lasting influence on him. In 1985, he left Lissadell once more to settle at the new community established at Warmun, while working as a gardener at the nearby Argyle Mine. In a career that spanned more than 20 years, Freddy Timms became known for aerial map-like visions of country that are less concerned with ancestral associations than with tracing the responses and refuges of the Gija people as they encountered the ruthlessness and brutality of colonisation. The political nature of his work is characterised by the intimate interpretations of the experiences of his people. Freddie Timms is foremost amongst those Gija artists of the second generation. His, was a unique Gija perspective on the history of white interaction with his people. It is hard to think of another who expressed more poignantly through their art the sense of longing and the abiding loss that comes from the forced separation from land that embodies one+IBk-s spiritual home." Contact Cooee Art for more information on this Aboriginal artwork.
FREDDIE TIMMS (c.1944-2017, Gija Language Group) Afghan Hole 2003 natural earth pigments and synthetic polymer paint on linen inscribed verso with artist's name, title and Jirrawun Arts cat. no. FT62003-167 80 x 100.5cm PROVENANCE: Jirrawun Arts, Wyndham, Western Australia Gould Galleries, Melbourne (label verso) Private collection, Melbourne Bonhams & Goodman, Melbourne, 24 November 2009, lot 55 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITIONS: Freddie Timms, Gould Galleries, Sydney, 15 October - 9 November 2003
Freddie Ngarrmaliny Timms (circa 1944-2017) Untitled inscribed verso: 'RED ROCK ART / 1005 / 180 x 150 / FREDDY TIMMS / KP2293' natural earth pigments on canvas 150.5 x 180.0cm (59 1/4 x 70 7/8in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Freddie Timms began painting in 1986, inspired by the elder artists already painting at Frog Hollow, a small outstation attached to the community at Warmun, Turkey Creek. Born at Police Hole c.1946, he followed in his fatherâs footsteps, following the stockman life at Lissadell Station. At the age of twenty, he set out to explore and work on other stations. It was during this time that he met and worked alongside Rover Thomas, who was to have a lasting influence on him. In 1985, he left Lissadell once more to settle at the new community established at Warmun where he worked as a gardener at the Argyle Mine. In a career that spanned more than 20 years, Freddie Timms became known for aerial map-like visions of country that are less concerned with ancestral associations as with tracing the responses and refuges of the Gija people as they encountered the ruthlessness and brutality of colonisation. His was a unique Gija perspective on the history of white interaction with his people. It is hard to think of another who expressed more poignantly through their art the sense of longing and the abiding loss that comes from the separation from the land that embodies oneâs spiritual home.
