Sales of indigenous art have been hit hard by the unforeseen effects of new super fund rules passed in 2011.

“In one word, the impact has been devastating,” says Claude Ullin, the proprietor of Aboriginal art gallery High on Art in Melbourne’s Armadale. “It’s the very thing the government didn’t want to happen.”

Under the stricter rules, artworks bought by Australia’s 420,000 self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) cannot be displayed by trustees or anyone related to them in their homes or offices.