It is an illustrated catalogue of the latest of five collections commissioned from artists of the highest stature in the region.The October Gallery has for sale paintings by sons whose fathers’ work appears in the book. Initiates are looked up to and old men who have shirked initiation are regarded as still young, lacking in wisdom.With the Aborigines’ consent, all that can be revealed has been revealed in a book, Kunwinjku Art From Injalak 1991- 1992 (Museum Art International, 1994). The dreaming stories, about ancestral beings who are custodians of the natural law, ritual and correct behaviour in a particular place, can be painted only by sons who have been indoctrinated into them at initiations conducted by their fathers.”Age grading” initiations begin at the age of five, the dreaming stories are first heard at 18 and painting them is forbidden until the age 25. Whereas in London last week, a particularly bubbly opening at the October Gallery yielded only a smattering of red dots.The irony is that the Dreamtime paintings by the Kunwinjku of Oenpelli are probably the world’s most most rigidly regulated art. Although dating back 40,000 years, Aboriginal art is the last great tradition of art to be appreciated by the world.In Melbourne in June, Sotheby’s third annual sale of Important Aboriginal Art – including 92 pieces gathered by Mrs Bennett for an American collector – sold 98 per cent by value and established a new world record price of $206,000 (pounds 90,640), for a water dreaming painting of 1972.

Ms Martin worked in her art gallery in Darwin three years ago.Now aged 83, Mrs Bennett first encountered Aboriginal art – bark paintings – when she was stenographer to an orthopaedic medical expedition that toured Arnhem annually between 1954 and 1960.It is as well that the art for sale in the October Gallery’s exhibition, Keepers of the Mimi Spirit (the Mimi are stick-thin sprites who inhabit Dreamtime) has passed through her experienced hands. After all, what is Aboriginal art?For most Brits, contemporary Aboriginal paintings and wood carvings are still an enigma. But she failed to carry off any artworks by the Kunwinjku Aborigines during her four-week tour this summer of their rocky homeland, Oenpelli, in Arnhem Land, on the north coast. She had no ready cash and the region’s government-appointed art adviser seemed to have other ideas about who should get the distinctive ochre paintings on fibrous paper depicting ancestral spirits and animals of the immemorial Aboriginal Dreamtime.
Instead, Ms Martin has filled the October Gallery in Old Gloucester Street, Bloomsbury, with 39 paintings and carvings supplied by this century’s most celebrated promoter of Aboriginal art, Dorothy Bennett, the federal Aboriginal art valuer. Art curator Georgina Martin, aged 26, rode a wild steer for 13 seconds at the Darwin rodeo in Australia, three seconds longer than prize time.

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Furthermore, she will be penalised on a sliding scale for each year of retirement prior to age 60.So how can she go about increasing her retirement income? Dr Barton currently contributes 6 per cent of her income to her occupational pension, which leaves her 9 per cent that she may use for additional funding and still get full tax relief.She has three options She could purchase added years in her occupational scheme. This provides 1/80th of final salary for each year of service as an annual pension, plus 3/80ths for year of service as tax free cash.Should Dr Barton retire at 55 she will have only 31 years service, which falls short of the maximum benefits. I would suggest a Norwich Union low-cost endowment, which is not the cheapest but has wider cover than other plans in relation to her profession, with premiums of pounds 140 per month for a pounds 90,000 mortgage.Given that she is planning to get married in the near future and buy a house, perhaps she can wait a little while until she knows what her exact outgoings are likely to be.With retirement planning in mind, Dr Barton sensibly joined the NHS superannuation scheme. The advantages are that it can be moved to each subsequent mortgage, allowing top-ups along the way. Given the couple’s relative security of employment, early surrender is unlikely; the plan would repay the mortgage in the event of death or earlier critical illness. Given that Dr Barton’s first house may have a mortgage of pounds 90,000, it may even be sensible to consider going for a larger low- cost endowment at the outset, which could lead to savings in the future.A twin-plan option, offering repayment of the loan in the event of either partner’s death, would provide greater flexibility.