Nyirla Jila 2004 by Nyuju Stumpy Brown 122x76cm, Cat 8814SB

"Nyirla Jila 2004" by Nyuju Stumpy Brown: As told to Mangkaja Arts, provenance of this painting: "This is a waterhole in my country. My paintings are about my country, my mother’s country and my father’s country. We lived in the desert country (the Great Sandy Desert). I paint the waterholes and bush tucker found at those waterholes. We were living on bush tucker in the desert, on bush tucker only. I paint about the time before we knew kartiya.”

Nyuju Stumpy Brown was born 1 July 1924 on the Canning Stock Route in Ngapawarlu , Western Australia. She grew up in the Great Sandy Desert. She was also known as Kumanjayi Brown. When her parents died while she was young, Brown was then raised by her drover uncle, Jamali Wally Darlington. Her brother, Rover Thomas , was an artist. Darlington took Brown, by camel, to the Catholic Mission in Balgo where she learned English before they moved to Fitzroy Crossing. She said in an interview that she had never seen a white person until she was 15 years old.

A prominent figure in law and culture in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, she ran the corroboree (Nyanpi) ceremonies for the town's children and was in charge of women's law from Wangkatjungka to Balgo.

She passed away on 13 September 2011.