After earlier experiments with watercolour, Reuben Pareroultja took up painting full time in 1945. He was one of the very few Hermannsburg artists who painted figures openly in many of his landscapes. This had earlier been seen as taboo, as elders had forbidden figurative representations. Rex Battarbee encouraged Pareroultja’s figurative work and he became well known for representations of the camel patrols and camel trains that serviced the area.