Who remembers Eddie Burrup, the man who never was? The appearance of an abstract painting in a Perth auction catalogue has conjured the spectre of one of Australia’s most celebrated cultural controversies.

Among 144 relatively affordable works by artists including Sidney Nolan and Tim Storrier, Burrup’s Glimpse of Ngarangani is a pleasant abstract, evoking sunlight on shallow green water. About the size of an exercise book, the painting is estimated to fetch between $600 and $900 at GFL Fine Art’s auction on Sunday, March 12.