Ada Hart, whose traditional name is Muninja, was born in 1938 on her traditional lands, the Pitjantjatjara lands in South Australia. When Hart was approximately eight years old, she and her family came to live at Ooldea where she attended school under the tutelage of Mr Green and the missionaries. According to the 'document of authenticity’ accompanying Hart’s work sold through the Ceduna Aboriginal Arts and Cultural Centre, in 1952 the Aboriginal people living at Ooldea were moved off the land in order for the British to begin atomic bomb testing at Maralinga approximately 70 kilometres away. Hart and her family walked to Yalata, 148 kilometres south of Ooldea and lived there for a time until they eventually settled at Oak Valley, near Nadia in South Australia.
Hart fills her days with visits from her grandchildren and creating artefacts from local woods. Cleaning, cuting and shaping the wood into carriers of trays before she burns in designs into the object and finishing with a soaking of linseed oil. These trays are used for the holding of foods which are carried on top of the head or to keep babies in carried under the arm. Other objects Hart crafts are boomerangs, music sticks and snakes. The different woods she uses include mulga and quandong.
Hart sells her works through the Ceduna Aboriginal Arts and Cultural Centre.
- Writers:
- Allas, Tess
- Date written:
- 2009
- Last updated:
- 2011
