Brian Champion

Kaprun Elder
Eastern Goldfields, WA

Kaprun Elder, Brian Champion is from the eastern Goldfields of West Australia. He grew up at a time when it was illegal for Aboriginal people to be within 10km of a town after sunset.

At the age of eight, he was removed from his family by the then Department of Native Affairs, and placed in Norseman mission. Five years later, teenage Brian found his way back home.

Today he has thirty one great-grandchildren of his own to nurture. Continuing to honour his culture’s rich oral tradition of storytelling, he views himself as a living conduit, transmitting stories from one generation to the next. His ancestors’ stories of the natural world offer a practical template to navigate survival on country, but also serve as a blueprint for how to live life today and for generations to come.

This eighty-five-year-old Gulamai-Guberin man believes the term elder is meaningless unless it’s paired with action that resonates into the future. From his perspective, being an elder is to act as a guide, steering others in the right direction and helping them along the way.

Brian is the only remaining fluent speaker of the Kaalamaya language spoken by the Kaprun people.

Artist: Russell James

Size: 152cm x 152cm

Medium: Canvas

Artist: Russell James

Size: 152cm x 152cm

Medium: Canvas