Gert Sellheim was one of the earliest designers commissioned by the Australian National Travel Association (ANTA) to produce designs for Australian travel posters. Established in 1929, ANTA aspired to attract overseas visitors to Australia by displaying artist-designed posters in its London, San Francisco (opened 1930) and Bombay offices (opened 1937 and directed at the British serving in India). The Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) took over many of ANTA's functions in 1967.
'Corroboree Australia' illustrates the designer Gert Sellheim's strikingly modernist incorporation, and early reference to, the art and culture of the Aboriginal Australia as a unique and appealing aspect of Australian culture and identity. The poster depicts a strident diagonal composition of four Aboriginal dancers wearing the painted ceremonial body decorations and headdress of the Arrente people of Central Australia. The title of the poster, 'Corroboree Australia' is stylishly hand lettered above and below the poster's central illustration, the entire poster then encircled by a black border. The designer's signature 'SELLHEIM' also features in the main body of the poster at lower left.
Images drawn from Indigenous Australian art and design became very popular in local marketing and merchandising imagery during the 20th century. They were particularly popular during the 1950s, in the period leading up to the Melbourne Olympic Games of 1956. Today it is recognised as unacceptable for non-Indigenous artists to appropriate original art and designs of Aboriginal Australia.
Gert Sellheim (1901-1970) was born in Estonia of German parents and studied architecture at universities in Germany before travelling to London and then migrating to Western Australia in 1926. He set up an architecture and design practice in Melbourne in 1930, and moved to Sydney in 1947. A significant selection of his work was exhibited in the Exhibition of Aboriginal Art and its Application organised by the Australian Museum, Sydney in 1941 and his design for an 'Aboriginal Art' stamp was released in Australia in 1948. Sellheim's most renowned design is Qantas's distinctive flying kangaroo logo, created in 1947.
The 'Corroboree Australia' poster was acquired by the Museum at auction in 1998.
Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator
Sellheim was born in Estonia of German parents in 1901. He studied architecture at universities in Berlin, Munich and Gratz before travelling to London. He then migrated to Australia and arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1926. After his qualifications were recognized, Sellheim began work as a site architect at the University of Western Australia where he would have sighted George Benson's Aboriginal motifs painted on the ceiling beams of Winthrop Hall (completed in 1932).
He moved to Melbourne in 1930 where he set up his own architectural practice and began designing and exhibiting posters. In 1939, Sellheim was awarded the Sulman Prize by the Art Gallery of New South Wales for Government Tourist Bureau mural in Melbourne. By 1939 he had made a study of Aboriginal art and was regarded as an authority in this field according to the architect, Frederick Romberg. A significant selection of Sellheim's work was exhibitied in the Exhibition of Aboriginal Art and its Application organized by the Australian Museum in 1941. Other artists and designers included in this exhibition were Margaret Preston, Douglas Annand, Olive Nock, Francis Burke and Grace Seccombe. In the 1940s, Sellheim was also correspondence teacher for Poster Design at the Arts Training Institute, Melbourne.
He moved from Melbourne to Sydney in 1947 and established Gert Sellheim Design. For many years he designed the semi-official commemorative publications for Oswald Zeigler (eg 150 years in Australia in 1938) incorporating photomontage and decorative elements derived from Aboriginal art. He won stamp design competitions in 1946 and 1948 ('Aboriginal Art' stamp released in 1948 - MAAS collection) and in the 1940s and 1950s created letterheads, posters, souvenir menus and magazine cover designs for Qantas. Most significantly of all, Sellheim designed the distinctive flying kangaroo for Qantas in 1947, still in use in a slightly modified form more than 50 years after it was originally designed.
Sellheim died in 1970.
Printed by F. W. Niven, Melbourne
All published sources, including the 'The Europeans: emigre artists in Australia 1930-1960' (NGA 1997) date the poster around 1930. ANTA was established in 1929 and Gert Sellheim was working in Melbourne from 1930 so the date is most probably accurately attributed. Further research required to confirm the date.
Poster is one of the earliest poster designs commissioned by the Australian National Travel Association (established 1929).
Poster was part of a private collection offered for sale at Charles Leskie and Associates 'Australiana' auction held in Melbourne on 8 February, 1998
This text content licensed under 
This text content licensed under