Thelma Dundan (Dunjan) Judson

“I grew up around these salt lakes [Percival Lakes] with all the families; [my sister] Yuwali’s mob, all together. Too salty to drink, so [we would] get fresh water from Yimiri, a yinta (permanent spring) in the lake.”

– Thelma Dundan (Dunjan) Ngarga (Nyarrka) Judson

Ngarga is a Manyjilyjarra woman, born in the isolated Percival Lakes region of the Great Sandy Desert in the mid 1950s. She grew up primarily around Yimiri and Kurturarra soaks. She and her young siblings would stay close to the major water sources while their parents went out hunting. During the rainy season her extended family group would separate into smaller units, and when it was hot they would come back together at the permanent water source of Yimiri.

As a young girl Ngarga lived nomadically in this region with her family group.  Their first contact with Europeans occurred in 1964, when the government sought to clear all remaining pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) Aboriginals from an extremely large area destined for military weapons testing.

Once the group was finally tracked, they were persuaded to move to Jigalong Mission to join family there. They were one of the last families to move in from the desert.  Today Ngarga lives between Newman, Port Hedland, and Parrngurr.

Ngarga is a talented weaver and painter. Her works depict her ngurra (home Country, camp), the Percival Lakes region, and its associated Jukurrpa (Dreaming). The area is dominated by a series of striking salt lakes, extending across a distance of 350km, and was formed by Wirnpa, one of the most powerful of the ancestral jila (snake) men and the last to travel the desert during the Jukurrpa. Ngarga’s work has been exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, and her collaborative works acquired by the National Museum of Australia.