Desmond Woodforde, Tjukula- Rock Hole, 85-24MM, Mimili Maku
Synthetic polymer on linen, 92cm x 62cm
I have painted rock holes out at Victory Well, a place I like to visit just outside Mimili Community. In this painting, you can see that the rock holes have no water in them because it hasn't rained for a long time. When it rains, all these rock holes fill up, and we can drink from them. The children also like to swim in the large ones when it is a warm day. Sometimes we find bones in the rock holes from camels or horses that have fallen in after having a drink and can't get back out. The wati's (men) have to go to these rock holes and clean them out before we can drink from them again.
Mimili is situated within the beautiful Everard Ranges on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in the northwest of South Australia, 488 kilometers southwest of Alice Springs. Mimili is home to 300 Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people who have been living in the area for millennia in harmony with nature and acting as custodians of the land and the Tjukurpa (creation stories). Mimili was formerly known as Everard Park, a cattle station that was returned to Aboriginal ownership through the 1981 AP Lands Act. The Mimili Community was incorporated as an Aboriginal Community in 1975.
