Debbie Hansen Australian, Pitjantjatjara, b. 1967

Debbie Hansen was born at Cundeelee Mission 200km east of Kalgoorlie on the 9th of August 1967, one of eight children. Debbie’s parents with two older brothers were brought in from the Great Victoria Desert to Cundeelee in 1958 as part of an effort to clear the Maralinga and Spinifex lands for British nuclear and rocket testing in the 1950s.

Debbie was raised in a traditional camp environment at Cundeelee and attended both the Mission school (until 1975) and Government school during her primary years. Debbie boarded at an Aboriginal hostel near Norseman while completing three years at Norseman High School. After high school Debbie was employed at the Cundeelee school as an Aboriginal Education Worker until 1984. With her family and others, she returned to the Great Victoria Desert to homelands left in the 1950s.

During this time Debbie married and had two children. She became involved in many aspects of community development during the re-settlement phase. In 1997 a school was finally established, and Debbie was able to resume her career in education. In 2000/01 she completed Certificates 3 and 4 in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education through Notre Dame University in Broome WA and became an integral part of education staffing at the Tjuntjuntjara Remote Area School.

Also in 1997 the Spinifex Art Project started, and Debbie mainly painted the stories of her birthplace, Cundeelee. She also assisted and learnt from her Auntie, Lucy Hogan, a senior Spinifex woman and premier painter. When Lucy died in 2003, Debbie “inherited” Lucy’s stories and designs from the Spinifex area and began to use them to form the basis of her own works. She has also participated in many collaborative works with senior Spinifex women.
Debbie is currently living at Tjuntjuntjara.