Glen Timbery comes from a rich lineage of artists and craftspeople with many members of his family regularly producing artwork and artifacts. Boomerang making specifically is the Timbery family’s expertise, having been doing so for generations. Glen is a member of the Wallangang clan from La Parouse in New South Wales.
In 1954, Glen’s grandfather and champion boomerang thrower Joe Senior was the first Aboriginal person to perform and throw a boomerang for Queen Elizabeth of England. The Timbery family is also known to have been fishing in Botany Bay as Captain Cook first arrived in Australia in 1770. The Protection Board Report for 1891 records that the men at La Perouse were fishermen and also made weapons for sale, while the women sold shell-works and wildflowers. Glen’s great-great-grandmother, Queen Emma Timbery, exhibited her shell-work in London in 1910. Glen’s grandfather, Hubert, was a ‘lookout man’ who could tell the species of fish from the ripple on the water: he used to sit on the shore to spot the fish and signal to the men on the boats. While waiting he would carve boomerangs and nulla nullas, which he sold throughout the 1940s at the Loop.
Many of Glen’s family members are still highly regarded for their shell art whereas Glen concentrates on pyrography; a special technique in which wood is decorated by being burnt into. While also producing both traditional and contemporary paintings, Glen’s incredible carving skills earn him his reputation and distinguish his profile as an artist.
Glen’s works have been widely exhibited and feature in a number of private and public collections in both Australia and overseas.
