Born Carrolup Mission, 1941

Born at Carrolup Mission, Primus was given his name by two nurses from there who asked his mother permission to give the baby an unusual name so they would always know him. His mother intended to name him after his father, but agreed to the nurses’ request.

Primus Ugle is a Noongar man of the Bibbulman people of the South West of Western Australia. He grew up travelling with his family from farm to farm as work was available. His family lived in Darkin, Collie, Narrogin, Williams, Quindanning and Culbin among other towns.

After school, the children would change into work clothes and help with picking, clearing, shearing, fencing and whatever jobs were needed doing. He says:

‘the old people told us stories and we listened but we never questioned them. Not like today. We were disciplined to do what we was told. No backchat!’

He began painting as an adult through the inspiration of an old man from Kalgoorlie and describes himself as a political painter making works about important events in Aboriginal history and the things he saw and did as a child growing up. The very first painting he made was of the massacre at Pinjarra, and he describes carefully thinking about how the painting should be laid out and what each part of the work should look like. The painting includes a large brick building like Government House, the Round House prison, a Union Jack and four white men planning what they would do. There is a camp of peaceful people, soldiers hiding in the trees and a field of broken bodies.

Ugle was encouraged to keep painting by Dr John Stanton of the University of Western Australia, where some of his works are now held in the Berndt Museum Collection.

Solo Exhibitions
2004 The Way We Were, Artplace, Perth

Group Exhibitions
2004 21st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
2003 Artplace Group Show 2003, Artplace, Perth, WA
South West Central, Indigenous art from south Western Australia 1833-2002, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA
Wardandi Aboriginal Culture Centre, Yallingup, WA
Now You See It (2), Staffort Court, Midland, WA

Publications
2003 South West Central- Indigenous art from south Western Australia 1833-2002, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Brenda L Croft with Janda Gooding

Collections
National Gallery of Australia, Berndt Museum, University of Western Australia, Dr Ian Bernadt and private collections.