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Howard’s unique art by Rhonda Hagan A chat with Howard Butler 5 August 2013 Who is your mob? My mob is Goreng Goreng from Bundaberg, Gungulu from Banana and Jiman from Taroom. I was born and bred in Rockhampton and I have my ties to all around Queensland. I would like to acknowledge all my family – Blackman, Williams, Johnson, Hutchison, Kemp, Ryan, Rutherford, just to name a few. What did you do after school? I finished school in Year 9. After that I went out to work and did a lot of landscaping. Why did you start painting? I got into the arts when I was only young. I used to watch my sister sketch when I was only in Year 1. Ever since then I drew everything using pencils. Nowadays I don’t like using pencils. I’d rather do painting with the paintbrush. What else do you like to do? I like to show kids how to do screenprinting, painting, any cultural activity... whatever we can. What does family mean to you? Family means a lot to me. I’m family orientated. I love to have my family around me all the time. I take my kids with me all the time. What I learn I like them to learn too. What is the last movie you saw? The last movie I saw was Django, it was all about black people. I remember how it reminded me about our oppression
in Queensland and Australia. It brings back a lot of wounds that we still suffer. What do you like to read? I don’t read that much but do like to read newspapers to see what is interesting and what things will be coming up. What do you hope for the
future of our people? I hope that our people can get our land back. It would be brilliant. They say to us that they will give us compensation. Instead of compensating us with the little money on offer, give us a percentage. At least we can live off that. X amount of dollars doesn’t cover the loss that we have suffered. Page 1