Watiya’s and the Travelling Past

Debra McDonald Nangala

Watiya Tjuta translates as Acacia tree (Mulga). The Acacia provides the wood for spear shafts and other wooden objects made by the artist’s clan. The country where the trees are found is Uwalki. The Mulga tree provides bush food from its seeds and witchetty grubs thrive on its bark. Debra McDonald is custodian for the Mulga tree dream story here paints the root system of the Mulga tree combined with the Travelling Past story relating to her own family story, when they travelled over great distances from the Gibson Desert to come into the desert settlements.

Debra McDonald Nangala, was born in October 1963 at Papunya Camp. She is the granddaughter of the late Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi (c.1920-1987) who was a Pintubi man from Lake MacDonald in the Gibson Desert, Central Australia. In 1948 he moved to Haasts Bluff and Papunya, and both Debra and Shorty’s stories refer to his country of Lake MacDonald. Debra was married to the nephew of Turkey Tolson and son of the great female artist Mitjili. Debra is the niece of the famous Clifford Possum.