Mitutu Mabel Warkarta
Born about 1920
Warnman language group, Milangka skin group
Parnngurr Community
Martumili Artists
After Mabel’s mother and father passed away she was grown up by one of her aunts. She walked around Karlamilyi and Warnman country and when she was older she travelled with her promised husband and his wife. After walking into Jigalong she worked on various cattle stations. Mabel married twice more following the death of her first husband.
Canning Stock Route and surrounding country
2008, by Kumpaya Girgaba, Ngamaru Bidu, Mabel Warkarta, Nola Taylor, Thelma Judson, Marjorie Yates, Dulcie Gibbs, Yuwali Janice Nixon, Rosie Williams, Nora Nangapa, Bugai Whylouter, Nora Wompi, Jakayu Biljabu and Morika Biljabu
acrylic on canvas, 292×129 cm
Martumili Artists
National Museum of Australia
This painting, which was produced by 14 women artists at Kunawarritji (Well 33), represents a stretch of Country crossed by the Canning Stock Route. It depicts a number of the waterholes that were made into wells, but many other permanent and ephemeral water sources are also included. When the Canning Stock Route was in use as a droving highway, many of the artists relied on these other waters to ensure their safe passage through this contested land.
