Ngarinyjapayi Nancy Chapman

Ngarinyjapayi is a Manyjilyjarra language speaker born around 1945 at Jarntinti, a claypan in the Karlamilyi area in the Martu native title determination. She is a Martu pujiman (born in the desert). She lived with her three sisters (one of these being Mulyatingki) and three brothers, and other extended family travelling from the Canning Stock Route in the east right to the headwaters of the Karlamilyi River.

Her family knew about the mission at Jigalong but decided to continue to live nomadically and independently for many years until Ngarinyjapayi’s father died. The family decided to come into Balfour Downs Station in 1966, and from here they were taken to Jigalong Mission. They were some of the last Martu to walk in from the desert.

Ngarinyjapayi worked at Jigalong Mission for several years and then at Pilbara pastoral stations. She married Minyawu Miller, a stockman, and Ngarinyjapayi did domestic work on the stations. In the 1970s, her family moved, with a large number of other Martu, to Warralong and Strelley stations owned by the Nomads company. She lived and worked here for about ten years. She and other Martu moved to Punmu Community in 1983 to be closer to her country. She has remained in Punmu ever since. Ngarinyjapayi and Minyawu had four children, all of who were brought up and lived in Punmu before they started families of their own.

Ngarinyjapayi is a senior law woman and a major supporter of the KJ Punmu women’s ranger program. She has worked and travelled all over her country teaching and showing younger generations their country, telling stories and passing them important cultural information. In recent years she has become frail and ill, and although she spends a great deal of time in Port Hedland visiting her husband, she still lives in Punmu. She is a well-respected artist.

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