Reggie Sultan Apengarte / Seven Sisters Dreaming (SUL219)

Reggie Sultan Apengarte was born in Alice Springs in 1955 and is a Kaytetye artist whose mother’s Country lies around Barrow Creek and Neutral Junction in Central Australia. He now lives in Darwin.

Reggie first took up painting as a young boy while attending the Alice Springs Convent School, where he won a number of school art awards. Much of his early artistic education, however, came from watching older artists painting along the Todd River and Chinaman’s Creek. His earliest works were landscapes influenced by the Namatjira tradition, depicting the Country around Alice Springs, and he sold his first painting through the mission block store.

As a young man Reggie worked on cattle stations as a station hand and fencer, continuing to paint whenever he had the opportunity. In 1985 he became a professional artist and began expanding his practice beyond landscape painting, incorporating dot painting, Aboriginal symbols and figurative imagery to tell stories connected to his mother’s Country and his own experiences of life in the Central Australian bush.

Over the years Reggie has developed a highly individual narrative style. His paintings depict hunting, gathering bush foods, finding water, ceremony, Country and ancestral stories, often populated by small figures whose activities unfold across the landscape. He is also known for his distinctive use of strong reds, yellows and ochre tones and for creating textured, speckled backgrounds using leaves.

Reggie’s work also extends to important historical and social narratives. In 2026, exhibiting under his full name Reginald Sultan, he was selected as a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra NATSIAA) for Coniston Station massacre 2025 in the Telstra General Painting Award category. The work addresses the 1928 Coniston killings in Central Australia and was subsequently acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

The acquisition marks an important recognition of Reggie’s practice and of his ability to use painting not only to tell stories of Country and traditional life, but also to bear witness to difficult histories of loss, survival and injustice.

In addition to his painting practice, Reggie is an author and illustrator. His published works include his autobiography, An Uncontrollable Child: The Autobiography of an Aboriginal Artist, and the illustrated children’s book The Seven Sisters. He has exhibited nationally and has also produced public artwork, including a mural at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.

Selected Exhibitions and Awards

• 2026: Finalist, Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Telstra General Painting Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Coniston Station massacre 2025 acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1995: Twelfth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1994: Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Old Parliament House, Canberra
• 1994: Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1993: Tenth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
• 1991: Flinders Art Gallery, Townsville
• 1989: Sixth National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Public Art

• Mural, Darwin Entertainment Centre

Selected Bibliography

• Hardy, J., Megaw, J.V.S. and Megaw, M.R. (eds), 1992, The Heritage of Namatjira: The Watercolourists of Central Australia, William Heinemann, Australia
• Sultan, Reggie, An Uncontrollable Child: The Autobiography of an Aboriginal Artist
• Sultan, Reggie, The Seven Sisters

As you look towards the sky at night you could see the Milky Way, and the seven sisters. In Aboriginal legend this story has been told in many ways from Elders down to the young generations. Forty thousand years ago, when only Aboriginal people roamed Australia, they had stories and this is one of the Dreamtime stories of the Seven Sisters.

One night the seven sisters decided to visit Earth, so they followed the Milky Way until they came to earth near a creek. They got off the Milky Way then wandered around. They saw the kangaroos, emus, snakes, bush tucker, creeks and waterholes as they wandered around looking at the country. They came upon seven hunters sitting in a circle around a waterhole. Their spears and shield sat beside them. The hunters noticed them and called them over. “Here, are you hungry?” said one of the hunters, “Have a feed and a drink of water”.

“They seem to be friendly”, said one of the sisters, so they walked over. The hunters fell in love with them at first sight, they took them all over the country, and showed them everything they could. The sun was going down and the sisters told the hunters, “When the sun goes down we must go. As soon as the Milky Way comes again to the creek where we got off, we must go back into the sky.”

The hunters were sad and did not want to let them go, the seven sisters said “don’t worry, one day we will come back and visit you again”. One of the hunters was so sad and started crying, he didn’t want them to go. The sun finally went down and the Milky Way appeared near the creek. “We must go now, said the sisters as they were running towards the Milky Way. “Stop, stop” said the hunters, but the sisters ran towards the Milky Way and climbed on. They shouted, “We must go back tonight, so people throughout the world can see us, our friends are waiting for us”. But one of the hunters grabbed hold of a sister and said, “don’t go please” and started crying, she started crying as well and said “l must go, I must go; my sisters are waiting for me, please let go.” So he let her go and she waved goodbye with tears in her eyes, and the hunter was very sad when she left.

Anyway he married one of his promised wives, and told his story to all his children and to this day, as you look towards the sky you can see a sister still trying to catch up with her other sisters. That is how seven sisters came to be as they are today.