Joe Alimindjin Rootsey lived a remarkable life before succumbing to tuberculosis at just 45, leaving behind a cache of watercolours that establish his connection to his Country. A member of the Amu Wuriingu clan – Traditional Owners of the lands around Barrow Point in north Queensland’s Cape Melville National Park – Rootsey worked as a cattleman before contracting the disease that would prematurely claim his life.

Confined, for a time, in Cairns Base Hospital in 1954, Rootsey began sketching his Country, which he had journeyed over as a jackaroo, including the route between Laura, Lakeland and Cooktown. Rootsey’s artworks attracted the interest of the hospital’s medical social worker Joan Innes Reid, who encouraged his artistic pursuits. After Rootsey’s watercolours were shown in the Cairns Show in 1957, the Department of Native Affairs invited Rootsey to enrol at Brisbane’s Central Technical College.

While the press inevitably compared Rootsey’s paintings to the watercolours of renowned Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902–59), Rootsey’s paintings capture the distinguishing qualities of North Queensland, including the earthy tones of Country inland of Cape Melville and the vibrant colours of the coast.