Born c.1943 west of the Kintore Ranges across the WA border, Ronnie and his family travelled throughout this region and also in the area around Lake Mackay in the NT. He was initiated at Yumari. Ronnie and his younger brother Smithy Zimran came in from the bush at Yuendumu, and later joined relatives living in Papunya, where Ronnie worked as a labourer. Ronnie painted a few works in the early years of the painting movement but his main focus in the 1970s was returning to his traditional lands, a move which was made possible with the establishment of Kintore in 1981. Ronnie moved there with his family in the early ’80s, and subsequently emerged as one of the Papunya Tula Artists’ major painters. In 1988 he won the Alice Springs Art Prize. In 1989, he had his first solo exhibition at the Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery, travelling to Melbourne for the exhibition, and was included 'Australian Perspecta 1993’ at the Art Gallery of NSW. Chairman of the Kintore Outstation Council in this period, Ronnie’s outstation at Redbank (Ininti) was also home to Kenny Williams , whom he taught to paint in acrylics.
