How do you like your tea?
White, one and half sugar, please.
Where are we now?
We are at Jarturti, we came to visit this place. This is where my grandfather on my father’s side was living, around here with the rest of their families. We’re on a KJ (Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa) rangers trip, a camp.
What’s been happening for you this week?
This week, our family is visiting country like Jartuti. We also went to Wikirri with the old windmill. My uncle and dad they fixed it way back. We are visiting the old places.
And what does a usual week look like in Parnngurr for you?
Well, it’s busy every time. I go from my house to KJ, to art shed, to school. It’s a busy week for me every week, going painting, doing some artwork with the kids in the school, I’ve got a garden as well. When I’ve got spare time, I go hunting with my family, with my mother and my two sisters and my niece and nephews. We get goanna sometimes, we get bush turkey, and sometimes we go out and try to look for emu eggs, but It’s pretty hard around here to find emu’s. Yeah, we often only see tracks. Once in a while we see one running across the road, and that’s when we’ve got no gun. And then when we do have a gun, there’s no emus around!
You also do a lot of work for endangered species don’t you?
Yeah, we do a lot with endangered species with KJ, looking after Manjarr (Greater Bilby) and Mulyaminji (Desert Skink). We count them, keep the feral animals away, burn the country to keep it healthy.
How does your life inspire your paintings?
Every time I go out bush with rangers or hunting I look at the landscape, it’s always different. Within 20 kilometres the landscape changes colour and I get ideas from that. When I do painting, I do the colours from the scenery, I see the colours of the country.
Its nice to see how these trips tie in with you painting! Shall we talk a bit about your life? Where were you born?
I was born in Port Hedland at the old hospital; I’m the first-born child from my mom and dad. I’ve got two sisters, two brothers and we all live in Parnngurr, we’ve been here for a long time. We were in Jigalong and outstations there too. Mum and Dad used to work in the stations. Sometimes they would leave us with Nana. Both sides, Nana Moms’s side and Dad’s side when I was younger.
And when did you learn to paint?
I remember when I was in school there was an artist, what was his name? well…he was an artist. But I wasn’t interested in painting at that time. I was watching him painting, and when I came back to Parnngurr I was seeing a lot of people painting here and I thought “Ohh, I’m gonna start painting too!”, now I love painting. Mainly I do paintings of country and the animals that we protect, like Manjarr and Mulyaminji.
Every year my painting style changes. Some days I might teach the kids to paint too, because some kids, they are good painters, and it keeps them busy from troubles.
That’s great, I think the billy is boiling. What was it again, one sugar with milk?
One and a HALF sugar, with milk please. That turkeys in the ground oven too, we put that in what…half an hour ago? I’m going to give it another twenty minutes then get it out, for lunch.
– Words by Simon Gillett in conversation with Carol Williams
