Erlikilyika was a Lower Southern Arrernte man born in c1865 in the area where the Charlotte Waters Telegraph Station was built in central Australia in1872. During his life he became a well-known innovative carver who used both wood, and soft stone (kaolinite), sourced from near Charlotte Waters.
This carving was included in an exhibition of Erlikilyika's carvings and wooden artefacts held at the Selborne Hotel, Adelaide in July 1913. Erlikilyika attended the exhibition with Mr HO Kearnan, the telegraph station master at Charlotte Waters, where Erlikilyika lived and worked. The exhibition, organised by Kearnan, was reported in the press of the day, with articles in the 'Observer', 'Register' and 'The Australasian'. A large photograph featuring Erlikilyika surrounded by many of the carvings and wooden artefacts, appeared in Adelaide's 'Observer' (26 July 1913, p28).
