Billy Stockman’s life began with tragedy. His mother and others of his family were killed in the 1928 Coniston Massacre, 280kms north of Alice Springs, while he was sleeping in a coolamon under a bush where his mother had concealed him. Just one of only two survivors, Billy was consequently found and taken in by the family of perhaps Australia’s most famous Aboriginal artist, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, and raised as an adopted brother.

Billy Stockman was a leader amongst his people and was actively involved as a campaigner for land rights and development of more equitable conditions for Indigenous people. He was a wood carver before he became a painter like Kaapa Tjampitjinpa and Clifford Possum, and he was one of the first artists to start painting large scale canvasses.