Elizabeth Nyumi
Born about 1947
Kukatja, Manyjilyjarra, and Ngaatjatjarra language groups, Nungurrayi skin group
Billiluna community
Warlayirti Artists
Elizabeth Nyumi was a young girl travelling with her older brothers, Brandy and Patrick Tjungurrayi, when they encountered a helicopter at Natawalu in 1957. It was the first time Nyumi had seen white men. She eventually travelled north to Balgo mission where she lived for many years before moving to Billiluna with her husband, Palmer Gordon, and children. Nyumi began painting in the late 1980s.
Mangarri (bush tucker)
2007, by Elizabeth Nyumi
acrylic on linen, 156×79 cm
Warlayirti Artists
National Museum of Australia
They [the helicopter crew] got the food and kept putting it under the tree. We didn’t know what they were doing so we got up and went to our living camp, to bush food.
This painting shows the abundant bush tucker found in Nyumi’s Country. Represented here are munyunpa (plum bush), lungki (witchetty grubs) and walku (quandong).
