Design and Art Australia Online

Following his father’s death, Gordon was raised by a relative, whose surname he adopted. He was related to the artist Charlie Egalie through his natural father, a Western Arrente man known as Tululu Egalie. His mother was Warlpiri/Anmatyerre. He attended the Old Bungalow School for Aboriginal children in Alice Springs. At the age of nineteen he left to go droving. He travelled from the Kimberley to the Sunshine Coast as a stockman before settling in Papunya, where he arrived in 1972, observing the development of the painting movement from that point. He lived until his untimely death in the mid ’80s. A highly intelligent and articulate man who spoke seven or eight languages including English, he began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in the early 1980s. He was taught by Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri and later by his cousin, Paddy Carroll Tjungarrayi . His traditional country was Kunatjarrayi, and his paintings depict Rain, Kangaroo and Bush Fire Dreamings from this area. He and Michael Nelson Jagamara were close friends.

Writers:

Johnson, Vivien Note: primary biographer

Date written:

1994

Last updated:

2011