In this live online learning session, you will explore the decades-long, remarkable efforts of the Papunya community to record language and culture and keep it alive. You will hear from community members as they share insights into the curatorial process and first-hand knowledge of the work of the Papunya Literature Production Centre.

About Wangka Wakaṉutja

Between 1979 and 1990, the Papunya Literature Production Centre produced hundreds of Pintupi-Luritja bilingual readers guided by the community’s Elders, among them pioneers of the Western Desert Art movement. The readers – illustrated books – were produced as literacy tools for local schoolchildren and tell stories of first contact, Dreamings, community life, plants, animals and more.

Guided by Rebecca Bateman, Director of Indigenous Engagement, you will learn about the application of our Indigenous Cultural and Linguistic Property (ICIP) protocol within a curatorial context and hear about the Library’s process for working with this incredible collection, from digitisation right up to display. The session will also explore some of the history of the Papunya Readers collection and share stories in both English and Pintupi-Luritja. 

You will have the opportunity to ask questions, observe closely, and find out how you can access this incredible collection online. 

Participants will join a live Zoom webinar and will be able to contribute to the conversation and ask questions of Director of Indigenous Engagement, Rebecca Bateman.

About the Speakers

Rebecca is a Weilwan and Gamilaroi woman with family from Warren in North West NSW and connections to the Gunnedah region of NSW and Charleville in QLD. She is the Director Indigenous Engagement at the National Library of Australia where the Indigenous Engagement Team are working to transform the way in which the National Library engages with First Nations people to tell First Nations stories. Rebecca is passionate about the rights of First Nations people to speak for their culture and have agency over the records that document it - she advocates for the restoration of cultural authority in all that she does. 

Members of the curatorium from the Papunya community who feature as speakers in this webinar are Roslyn Dixon, Kulata Dennis Nelson, Priscilla Brown and Karen McDonald. Allister Mills is a curator at the National Library of Australia. Vivien Johnson and Samantha Disbray are co-curators and authors of the NLA Publication, Wangka Wakanutja.