“I was born in the bush near Mimili, me and my mum and father had no clothes, and were living the traditional way. One time a fella came with cattle for branding; that wati (man) was the first white person I ever saw. I never went to school, my school was riding horses, learning to brand and break them in.

All us tjilpi (old men) used to be stockmen, we went everywhere working together; Mimili, Kenmore Park, Granite Downs, all over the place, every station; we had a good time working and didn’t worry about other things. We had a whole herd of horses, back then we were all cowboys.

We were always riding around, laughing at other blokes, we had a good time. We didn’t worry about other things; we just rode around working hard in the lands. My paintings are about my own country, and about all the countries we rode horses on. We know these places, we know this land.

These things, and everything here, is my memory – my knowledge, I like to paint the memories of my country.”