Wild women from Wutunugurra

In April 2009, a small group of women (representing the Epenarra Artists from the remote community of Wutunugurra), travelled to Brisbane for an art exhibition - and the adventure of a lifetime. For all of them, it was the first time they’d traveled so far from home. They’d not been to a big city, and they’d never seen the ocean…

At the very start of their journey, one of the women thought her hair was messy, and she spoke of her shame. World Vision Project Officer Liz came to her aid – teasing up her own hair to make it wild. The others liked it and followed suit. In that moment (among the giggles) they declared themselves "The Wild Women of Wutunurrgurra".

This is their story, as told by Liz. They called it "Wild Women from Wutunugurra hit Brisbane for their mwerrangker [beautiful] art in the Silver Bullets exhibition."

• DAY 1 – Arrival. Snakes on the plane?

  The ladies stayed the night at the Heavytree Gap motel. When we arrived there in the afternoon the women suggested that maybe there were boogie men living up on the rocks. What they found instead was lots of bikies. They cruised past during the night and everyone was kept awake by the sounds of the bikes. A massive breakfast got the women going.

  At breakfast, I was told that I was going to have to drag Dalery onto the plane because she was going to have her eyes closed and Tracey was saying that she was going to sleep the whole way so that she would not have to look out the window. I got two window seats anyway and Tracey was given one of them.

  The ladies cruised security but I made the metal detector go off and then got asked to do the bomb check. The ladies had to wait for me, as security thought I was a threat. Once through, we sat outside watching the planes land and take off.

  The ladies were saying they were both nervous and excited about going to Brisbane. I was definitely excited!

  After a long flight we landed in Brisbane. Everyone was very happy to get off the plane. Bridgett was waiting for us at the airport and took us straight to where we were going to be staying for the next week - the IBIS - right in the heart of Brisbane; surrounded by all the tall buildings of the city.

  

  After a short rest, we all decided to go for a walk and see what there is to see in Brisbane. The first place we went was to see the mwerrangker qwacha [beautiful water] of the Brisbane River.
  We then walked down Queen Street which is a little like the Todd Mall in Alice, only in Queen Street there are thousands of people and hundreds of shops.

  

  That night while we were having dinner, Tracey was telling me that she had told Tanya the story I had told Tracey about the snakes that had got free on a Qantas flight from Alice to Sydney. Tanya could not rest on the plane because all she could think of was those snakes. She kept looking on the ground so that if the snakes came near her she would lift her feet off the ground. Tanya was also worried that may come out of the luggage compartment and fall on her head. We had a good laugh about it and then the women had an early night.

   

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• DAY 2 – Galleries, a ferris wheel and close encounters with taxis and wheelchairs

  After a massive breakfast, we went for a walk over the bridge to see the mwerrangker qwacha again. While we were on our walk, Dalery stated that she did not want to go back on the plane and that she wanted to catch the bus.

  After our short walk, we walked to the Bleeding Heart Gallery which is where our exhibition was going to be held. We got to see all the paintings stretched up and they all looked really mwerrangker!

  We then took a walk into the city to visit a couple of galleries. Tanya found some kangaroo sculptures that we now call Tanya's kangaroos. We had some photos in front of them.

  

  We then caught a taxi to the Art Gallery of QLD. We went on a guided tour around the Forgotten Warriors exhibition. This exhibition is made up of paintings by strong Indigenous Artists all over Australia. It was called Forgotten Warriors because the artists whose work is shown are fighting to keep alive their culture. Kaye's favourite was a lady who painted about her life during mission days. Tracey liked two paintings: one with a Tasmanian lady holding a gun who fought for her people and the other one showed sand dunes and played tricks on our eyes. The painting looked like it was moving. It is really good to go and see other people's work.

  After visiting the Art Gallery, we thought it might be time for ice cream. We walked along the water adn past the big Ferris Wheel. We had seen it from our motel the night before when it was all lit up and it looked amazing. When Liz and Bridgett suggested we go for a ride on it, the ladies disappeared. There was no way they were going up that high on the Ferris Wheel.

  After a massive walk, all the ladies were paining - so much so, I did not think they were going to order any ice cream. We had to catch a taxi back to the hotel after eating ice cream. While walking to the tazi, Kaye almost got run over by a car. She was really tired and Jo tried to tell Kaye to stop crossing the road but Kaye kept walking. The car was coming quickly but she was okay and we all had a good laugh about it once we knew that Kaye was okay.

  When we got back to the Ibis in the afternoon, all the ladies went for a sleep. Kaye was paining in her knee, Tracey was paining in her foot and the ladies looked really grumpy. Ice cream at Cold Rock was mwerrangker though. Kaye was saying she is only getting a little homesick in the afternoons which is good to hear. We have been really busy so far and I know the week is going to go by really fast.

  Denise arrived later in the day to see all her sisters and cousins. She brought lots of photos of the kids and she is going to come and see the exhibition on Thursday night. We walked her to the Roma Street transit centre and they caught a train back to their place. Everyone was happy to see her.

  We had so many laughs today:

  • Tracey nearly got taken out by a man in his wheelchair. He was coming fast and I had to pull Tracey to her safety.
  • While riding the lift in the motel, Tracey tried to get off on floor 12 instead of the ground floor.
  • Kaye, Denise and Tanya decided they were going to stay with me and got off on my floor instead of waiting until they got to their floor.
  • Tracey needed extra support and held my hand while going up and down the escalators.
  • Kaye held Bridgett's hand as we were travelling escalators in the art gallery.
  • Liz was racing while crossing the road and Kaye ran after her. There was no need to run, I was just racing the ladies who all walk very fast across the road.

  The ladies were still very quiet today. I kept saying that you have to speak loudly becuase white fellas are deaf. I'm sure by the end of the week the ladies won't stop talking and will start being really rowdy like the fella from the first night who would not stop talking loudly about his girlfriend.

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• DAY 3 – Where’s the meat?

  Dalery could not sleep because her foot was paining from that long walk, but after another huge breakfast we were ready to get stuck into work at the gallery. Today we began to hang all of our paintings. We had to cut the wire first and put a hook on the end of it. Then we would hang the paintings so that the colours looked good together. We tried to put paintings together that suited each other. This meant that sometimes we would hang a painting up and then take it down and put another one up and take it down and it would go over and over again.

  

  It was hard work and when lunch came we were ready for a break. The only problem was it was a lunch that I liked and not the ladies. There was no meat... By now, the ladies had realised that I was a vegetarian and they were giving me heaps. Kura [meat] is mwerrganker and vegetables are amoi - I don't think so but the women do.

  After lunch we continued to hang paintings. None of the women wanted to climb the ladder so Bridgett and I worked on putting the wires up while the women helped by hanging the paintings and deciding which paintings should go where. Everyone was very sleepy however, and it was difficult to get some of them off the couch. They looked like Cleopatra and if we had a big ostrich feather I am not sure the women would have moved.

  After a hard day at work the women had a short rest and then Bridgett took us out for dinner on Southbank. The women were starving and everyone had fish or steak except for me - I had vegetables... mmmm mwerrangker!

  After dinner Bridgett took us to Mount Cootha. From the top you can see all the lights of Brisbane. We did not realise how big this place was. All around us were lights. We were looking for where we were staying and we could see where the Brisbane Lions were going to be playing on Saturday. Tracey and Dalery thought they might stay so they can see them but the rest of us decided we would catch that plane and then we would be home before the other ladies.

   

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• DAY 4 – Taking a train

  Today we finished hanging the paintings and then the ladies put all the prices on them ready for sale on Thursday night. The ladies worked really hard, which meant that we finished early. Bridgett decided that we should go shopping and then drive to Sandgate where, if we were lucky, we might see a dolphin.

  

  To get there we had to catch the train. This was the first time on one and there were some nervous people amongst us. The train was moving lots and Dalery was getting frightened. Dalery thought that someone was throwing rocks at the train. It went underground and it was really dark and scary.

  The second-hand shop we went to was a really good one, and everything there was for $1 or $2. I think Tracey nearly bought the whole shop - she had so many clothes. Her kids are going to love her for it.

  We arrived at the water and I ran down to it and got my feet wet. I was not sure if I had scared the women by telling them I was going to throw them in the water, but they did not go anywhere near me. Instead they walked out along a pier. Everyone said that Dalery was too scared to walk on the pier because she thought it would fall into the water. Tanya felt the same way.

  Kaye was the only one to get her feet wet and afterwards she said her feet were not paining as much as what they had. In the city you have to wear shoes, and their feet were not used to wearing them.

  Tracey wanted to see the dolphins, but there were none around. On the pier there was a young boy and he had caught lots of mud crabs, but he had to throw them back in because they were female ones.

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• DAY 5 – Opening Night

  We cleaned the gallery this morning to make it look good for the exhibition. Everyone had a turn of mopping and vacuuming.

  

  Denise arrived and we all went for a walk to check out the shops. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. We went to a cafe just down the road from the gallery, and had fish and chips and steak burgers. I had vegetarian risotto, which the ladies thought was amoi, however when Tanya had a try, she thought it was okay.

  Because the opening was in the evening, we decided to have a short rest. We then went for a walk over the bridge and took some photos with Denise. Everyone was pleased that they could spend time with her.

  The ladies said they were excited about tonight. Tracey was saying that it is about working and having to tell people about the stories. I told the ladies they should speak up and that white fellas are deaf so they have to speak louder. Dalery thought I should elbow her in the side when she needs to talk louder. The women spoke of how shamed they are to talk to people they don't know, but I told them that they would never see these people again. I also said that most white fellas think they are amazing for speaking two languages and that most people in Australia can't do that.

  The gallery had printed some books up with pictures of the paintings. The ladies looked through these books while waiting for people to arrive.

  Slowly, slowly they came and slowly, slowly the women surprised me and started talking. I was so proud of everyone for talking with people even though I knew it must have been scary. The women did a great job and we sold eight paintings.

  I think everyone was hoping we would sell more however, white fellas don't have as much money as they did last year and they aren't buying as many paintings because of it. They have booked up with the banks too much and now the banks are not giving them any more money until they pay the bookup back. It is really important that we keep showing people our art so that when people have money again they remember Epenarra Artists.

  

   

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• DAY 6 - Swimming in the sea

  Everyone was tired today. It had been a lot of work setting up the gallery for the exhibition and now it was all over. Today we were going to the beach, but first we stopped in to have a look at a couple of galleries not far from the beach. Alex, who we had met when he came to Wutunugurra, was also going to meet us up there.

  

  The ladies were a little grumpy at the start of the day, and Tracey said she did not want to look at any more art - she just wanted to go to the beach. Dalery started looking at real estate brochures and said that she was going to buy a house at Noosa. If she keeps painting she probably will be able to.

  Finally we were on our way to the beach. I said that I was going to be the first person to see the water and I was going to be the first one in the water. We drove and drove and drove, and I kept thinking I could see the water, but I could not. I ended up talking on the phone for a while and then I heard, "I see it." Dalery saw the water first, and I was really upset because I wanted to be the first person to see the water. I was definitely the first person in the water though. Tanya, Tracey and Dalery all ended swimming with me. I was chasing Tanya, so instead of me pushing Tanya into the water, she dived in before I could get her. There were waves and lots of sand, screams and laughs. When we got out, Alex checked to see if the women had grown fins because they had been in the water for so long and he thought they might be fish.

  

  We then went to get fish and chips, and we went for a ride on a boat. It was really beautiful, but we got really cold and it looked as if it was going to rain. We said goodbye to Alex and then we drove back to Brisbane. Everyone was really tired.

  We all had dinner together and then I suggested we walk into town to get ice cream. It was our last night in Brisbane and I thought it would be nice to do something. The ladies had other plans. They wanted to watch Mr Bean on TV and so I didn't get the ice cream I'd been dreaming of.

   

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• DAY 7 - Flying home

  Well the ladies were ready quick smart this morning - you could tell they were excited about going home. They thought however that they would like to take Bridgett with them. We had our final feast at breakfast and then went downstairs to wait for Bridgett.

  She drove us out to the airport where the whole of Brisbane seemed to be. There were so many people we had to line up for a long time. Kaye and I sat together and Dalery, Tanya and Tracey sat together. As soon as we landed, the ladies were off the plane as quick as they could. They still weren't too happy about being in the air and would rather be driving in the car.

  The ladies had a quick shop and then it was time to go. Like I thought, the women were talking and talking and talking all the way home. We had been on a big adventure together and had lots of funny things to remember.

  It was a special trip and now that we were on our way home we had to talk about how we were going to make the art group strong so that other people will have a chance to travel to places like Brisbane.

  These women, however, are going to stop home for a little while and let someone else fly on those planes.

  

   

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