Judy Mengil / Bullo River (1B)

c. 1950 – 2017

Judy was born on Newry Station and grew up learning about station life. After Newry her mother and step father shifted to Carlton Hill station where her mother worked in the kitchen. Judy watched all the older women working as cooks and making breads. She also lived at Ivanhoe Station and Argyle Station. In 1965 her mother died and welfare shifted Judy and her sister to Beagle Bay Mission. She returned from the mission in 1971 and settled in Kununurra.

Judy has four children. She started painting in the mid 1990’s. She mostly painted the country around Binjin – Bucket Springs (Keep River National Park N.T.) which is her mother’s country and Milligan near Bullo River (Northern Territory) which is her father’s country. She painted these places to keep alive the stories and places of her parents so that she was able to pass knowledge to her children and grandchildren.

Judy passed away after a short illness in early 2017. A strong, proud Miriwoong Elder, she is a huge loss to both the art world and the Miriwoong people.

Selected Exhibitions

2002
•    Heyson Prize, Adelaide
•    Warrgebarrenkoo, Fremantle Art Centre, Perth

2003
•    East Kimberley Show, Short Street Gallery, Broome
•    20th Tesltra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin

2004
•    Waringarri -Three Women, Framed Gallery, Darwin
•    Introducing Waringarri Artists, Seva Frangos at Span Galleries, Melbourne

2011
•    Judy Mengil & Phyllis Ningamarra, Mossenson Galleries, Collingwood

This is an area of my father’s country at Mulligan near Bullo River in the Northern Territory. In the dreamtime Windoong – the curlew – ate raw tucker from the billabong. He tried to fly away but he had eaten too much tucker so he had to leave some behind. That’s what made the hill beside the billabong. The billabong is surrounded by waterlily. We call them nhal nhal.