Goldhahn, J.Taylor, L.Tacon, P.S.C.May, S.Maralngurra, G.2022-07-052022-07-052022Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2022; 2021(2):46-650729-4352https://hdl.handle.net/2440/135720This paper discusses the commencement of an Aboriginal art market focused on the production of bark paintings in Australia. It centres around Baldwin Spencer’s visit to Oenpelli, today known as Gunbalanya, in 1912. During his visit, Spencer commissioned the first collection of Aboriginal bark paintings from western Arnhem Land. This paper explores how this was perceived from an Indigenous perspective through an interview conducted more than 50 years ago with one of the artists who painted for Spencer, Paddy Compass Namadbara (c. 1891/92–1978), the first artist known to have contributed to the Spencer/Cahill Collection. The interview, conducted by Lance Bennett in 1967 and presented here for the first time in English, provides evidence for how Spencer and Patrick Cahill influenced the commissioned bark paintings by Namadbara and other artists. This new information is significant for understanding the early interactive shaping of what has become an important art market in the region.en© The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies 2021. © in individual articles is held by the contibutor 2021Paddy Compass; Namadbara; Baldwin Spencer; bark paintings; Aboriginal art; Indigenous art; Oenpelli; Paddy Cahill; Western Arnhem LandJournal article2022-06-29615482May, S. [0000-0003-2805-023X]