Serena Donald Nimarra Larrpingali

Serena Donald Larrpingali Nimarra was born in 1970 to Violet Wadrill Nanaku and Donald Nangka Jurlama in the old clinic at Kalkaringi. She grew up at Daguragu with her 9 brothers and sisters and later went to school in Alice Springs. Serena is Malngin and Gurindji. Her kaku (father’s father) country is on Riveren (Kurlungurru) and Inverway stations. Serena studied Certificate 3 and 4 in Media at Batchelor Institute and won the Harry Wilson Memorial Award for media and radio. When Serena worked for the Central Land Council (CLC) ranger group in Kalkaringi, she worked on the CLC Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) project to produce an animation of the Rainbow Serpent story as told by her mother. Serena has a passion for Gurindji language and culture and spends much of her time with Gurindji Elders learning traditional stories and knowledge. Serena enjoys painting traditional Dreaming stories passed down by her family, but she has taken a modern approach to her painting technique. On the weekends she enjoys fishing, camping and learning about the country surrounding Kalkaringi.

Serena’s mother, father and grandparents worked on old Wave Hill Station (Jinparrak), milking cows, cutting wood, and as stockmen. On the weekends the family used to gather traditional foods and hunt. They also held wajarra (corroborree), yawulyu and jarrarta (women’s ceremonies). In 1966, Vincent Lingiari initiated a workers’ strike to protest the poor conditions of their employment and ultimately recover control of their traditional lands. The Gurindji campaign went on for nine years and resulted in the first successful land claim by an Aboriginal group, which in turn generated further energy for the broader land rights movement. Violet and her husband were members of the Walk-off group. Serena’s father was a strong advocate for the rights of the Aboriginal workers and accompanied Vincent Lingiari speaking to people in southern Australia about the situation for Aboriginal people on the cattle stations.