Helen Nagomara

Helen Nagomara was born at the Old Balgo Mission in 1953. She is the third child and second daughter of artist Milliga Napaltjarri and Albert Nagomara Senior.

Milliga was from Kulkurta in Western Australia, near Tjukurla, and Albert came from the Yagga Yagga area. He met Milliga in the south and later moved to Balgo, where he settled at the mission and worked on building the new community at Wirrimanu.

Helen attended the Balgo mission school until 1968, alongside classmates like Imelda, Gracie, Tossie, Jane, and her sister Joan. During the mission days, girls in the dormitory needed permission from Father John McGuire, the priest, to visit their parents during the day before returning to the dormitory at night.

Taught by the nuns, Helen spent summers camping at Paraku (Lake Gregory) and near the rockhole at Kunuwarra.

Helen is now one of the principal translators in Balgo, working with Warlayirti Artists and the Wangka Language Centre to help keep the Kukatja language strong. She has been painting with Warlayirti Artists since around 2000, focusing on bush tucker from her mother’s Country. Although she has seen some of these bush foods featured on ICTV, she has never visited the actual lands, which are far beyond Kintore and Kiwirrkurra.

She still dreams of one day visiting her ancestral Country.