Mrs. T Inkamala

Mrs. T Inkamala was always the first to arrive at the Yarrenyty Arltere Art Room. Arriving on the bus from her country Kwale Kwale, about 20mins west of Alice Springs. Although she only began making art in her late 70’s”, the body of work she produced was breathtakingly beautiful, spontaneous and cheeky. Working side by side in the art room with her sister Dulcie Sharpe brought her a “new joy, and a way forward for the kids.

Inkamala was born at Hamilton Downs Station Northwest of Alice Springs in 1940. Her father worked in the garden there, growing vegetables for the youth camp. Her mother did the cooking and washing. She remembers receiving rations and her father asking, “this is my country, why don’t I get a little bit of money”? At Christmas the family would ride camels and donkeys back to Kwale Kwale. When Inkamala went to school at Ntaria (Hermannsburg) she met her husband. She lived with her husband at Kwale Kwale and they had four children together.

Inkamala’s country runs from Stanley Chasm all the way to old Glen Helen Station. As a child she would go into this beautiful country with her family. Together they would pick bush tucker and her grandmother Old Laddie would teach her all the stories from that place. Old Laddie knew everything about the bush. What plants to eat, what plants for medicine, how to find witchety’s and honeyants, how to cook goanna and echidna. Inkamala said Old Laddie showed her how to make a coolomon and a dilly bag from the bush to carry water and food. “She showed me everything”.

Inkamala was an important and respected elder in her community. Her mother, her two sisters and herself along with ‘some other strong people’, set up Yipirinya School to celebrate and nurture the Aboriginal kids of Alice Springs. Now her children and grandchildren work at Yipirinya school as teachers, linguists, advisors.