[HERMANNSBURG] Dear Mr Heinrich : Ntaria letters 1933-35.

Hermannsburg, N.T. : Ntaria School, 2002. Large quarto (295 x 210 mm), pictorial stiff wrappers, stapled; pp 60, b/w photographic illustrations; text in English and Western Arrarnta; a fine presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page for bibliophile and former Hermannsburg resident Charles Fletcher.

Hermann Adolph Heinrich (1895-1959) arrived at the Hermannsburg Mission (Ntaria) in 1917, where he was to be the mission school teacher. This publication reproduces the text of six letters written in Western Arrarnta (Arrernte) which were sent to Heinrich in the mid 1930s by Ntaria residents after he and his family had departed Hermannsburg for Adelaide in 1932. The letters are accompanied by English translations. The introduction, written by Heinrich’s daughter, Ilona Oppenheim, provides a historical context for the letters. Family trees of the Heinrich family and of the letter writers are also included. The original manuscript letters themselves are illustrated, along with a number of Heinrich’s significant private portrait photographs of Arrarnta people – including Jonathan Namatjira, Albert’s father – taken at Ntaria in the 1920s.

A scarce and important publication. Trove locates copies in seven Australian libraries (Alice Springs Public Library; Library & Archives NT; NLA; SLSA; National Museum of Australia Research Library; Strehlow Research Centre; Deakin University Library).