After Albert Namatjira began to gain popular recognition and monetary return for his paintings, other members of the Arrernte community at Hermannsburg began to join him in depicting their country in a new Western style. Those who initially joined included Walter Ebatarinja, Namatjira’s son-in-law Benjamin Landara, the Pareroultja brothers Edwin, Reuben and Otto, the Raberaba brothers Herbert and Henoch and Richard Moketarinja.

Family played an important role in the movement and still does in the continuing tradition. The most successful and committed artists were from one of the family painting groups — Ebatarinja, Namatjira, Pareroultja or Raberaba. The presence of family meant a certain safety and stability within the larger group and a more intimate group in which to test new ideas. Each of the families seemed to develop unique styles to which the individuals from the families added their own idiosyncratic touches. Some of these family styles continue today.

As the group painted, Albert as senior man would explain the stories implicit in the landscape, schooling his family in both painting and place. Each painting expedition became a sort of new ceremony, where important information about country was revealed as in ceremonies passed, which were discouraged and suppressed by their new society and religion. Namatjira’s knowledge of place was revealed in the few times he was asked about the significance of the country he painted. He spoke of his grandfather, a flying ant, travelling through country across the important sites, while in Roland Robinson’s ‘The Feathered Serpent’ he, under the name of ‘Tonanga’, told of three special creation narratives relating to the landscape which he owned and painted.