Aboriginal Men and Women of High Degree

Ngangkari, or medicine men and women, have nurtured the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of their people for thousands of years. The term ngangkari applies to traditional healers of the Anangu, who live mostly in the APY Lands, which encompass about 103,000 square kilometres (40,000 square miles) of South Australia and include the Western Desert Cultural Bloc of Aboriginal peoples. It is also the term used by Pintupi/Luritja people. The variant spelling, ngangkere, is used in the Arrernte languages, while in much of Western Australia the words Maparn and Maparri are terms used for traditional healers. In Yolŋu law, Madayin, of Arnhemland, authorized traditional healers and doctors are called Marrŋgiyj. Many of these remarkable doctors, steeped in the deepest knowledge of their culture, have also been renowned artists, including these mentioned below.

Helicopter Tjungurrayi (1947 - )

Kukaja artist Helicopter Tjungurrayi is from Balgo Hills in Western Australia was born at Nynmi in 1947), Helicopter, who learnt from a young age the vital location of water sources and how to hunt for bush food, is a highly esteemed maparri, traditional medicine man, and people travel hundreds of miles to see him for healing. He is also a respected painter, alongside his wife Lucy Yukenbarri. In the early 1990s he painted with his wife, not seeking any acknowledgement. Helicopter paints his mother’s country, Piparr; his father’s country, Nynmi; The Tingari Cycle and Soak Waters.

Bill Whiskey Tjapaltarri (c.1920 - 2008)

The great, late Pitjantjatjara artist, Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri was a “big business” man in his community - a ngangkari, or traditional healer, and people came from afar to be treated by him. His widow, Colleen, is also a highly respected ngangkari, as is one of their sons, Herbert. Whiskey began painting in 2005. The main images in his works are the Rockholes near Pirupa, to the west of Ayers Rock, and the story of his journeys to Areyonga and Haasts Bluff. Whiskey was a highly traditional man with an extremely jovial personality. The bold colours evident in many of his works are said to reflect Bill Whiskey’s character – colourful and strong in spirit. His paintings quickly became among the most sought-after indigenous works in Australia and overseas. He only painted for the last three years of his life, after retiring as a ngangkari, and instantly gained international recognition as an artist.

Betty Muffler (1944 - )

Betty Muffler was born in 1944 in country near Watarrunea, near the border of South Australia and Western Australia. She lives and works in Indulkana Community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in remote north-west of South Australia.

Betty is a renowned ngangkari, traditional healer, and senior cultural woman. As a young woman Betty decided to walk the long distance from Ernabella to Maralinga to visit her extended family, whom she had not seen for a long time. However, at the beginning of her journey, she met some missionaries who told her of the bomb testing in that area, and that it was dangerous to continue in that direction. So she travelled with them to the Granite Downs cattle station on the back of a donkey.

“The smoke was coming from the bomb, so I came to Granite Downs instead. Those missionaries knew it was dangerous, so we came riding altogether on white donkeys to Granite Downs.”

Throughout her twenty’s, Betty lived with her two paternal aunties, sisters to her father, at the Granite Downs station. These two women taught Betty the skills of ngangkari, traditional healing, which became a life-long practice. Her father had also been a recognised and respected ngangkari, and he had begun to teach her these skills when she was young, until his untimely death.

Betty continued to practice ngangkari while at the Granite Downs Station and, when she married, she moved to the newly established Indulkana community where she spent many years working at the clinic as a ngangkari. She has healed many sick friends and family members directly in their own homes, and was invaluable for the doctors and nurses who practiced in the first clinics on the APY Lands. Betty is still called upon regularly to perform her healing practices.

“Back then that doctor used to come and get me from the wiltja at the river, and take me to the clinic. They knew I was a good ngangkari, and would come get me in case sick people wanted me at the clinic. Before the clinic was there, the nuns used to help sick people in the bush; they would send them people away to hospital if they were sick. But ngangkaris can see right through people to what sickness is inside. Then they can heal them straight away.”

One practice of ngangkari is to travel on spiritual journeys called marali, where the ngangkari’s spirit rises up out of the sleeping person’s physical body, and travels alone, or with other ngangkari, on healing and educational journeys. Betty has special mapanpa, sacred tools that are gifted to ngangkaris early in their career and stay living inside them, such as in the palm of their hand.

"This is my country, this is ngangkari country - it's healing, it's good. I've travelled everywhere on the APY Lands, sometimes during Marali (spiritual ngangkari travelling) and sometimes just to visit friends. I'm a strong kungka (woman) I survived the bombings at Maralinga, but many of my family didn't. It's a terrible and sad story. We need to heal this country, and give more respect to the land. My painting shows many of the good places in my country.

I am a Ngangkari, I've got an eagle’s spirit so I can stay at home here and in my sleep I send my eagle spirit across the desert to look for sick people, then I land next to them and make them better. Ngangkari's can see right through people to what sickness is inside, then they can heal them straight away."

Alongside a rigorous art practice, Betty continued to work extensively with NPY Women's Council and medical practitioners to support Anangu to good health and through times of crisis. Betty is now retired and works at home where she makes beautiful baskets. Only a few years ago was she persuaded to try painting. At first, she painted her tjanpi baskets but she now enjoys painting with bold colours and strong designs. She paints rockholes and creeks, the sandhills and wildflowers. Betty Muffler won the 2017 NATSIAA Award for an emerging artist, her paintings have been exhibited extensively, and her work is held in significant collections throughout Australia and internationally.