Queenie McKenzie (Nakarra) (formerly Oakes, or Mingmarriya) (c. 1915 – 16 November 1998) was an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

artist. She was born on Old Texas Station, on the western bank of the

Ord River The Ord River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers . The lower Ord River and the conjunction with Cambridge Gulf create the most northern estuarine environment in Western Australia. The Ord ...

in the East Kimberley.

Early life

McKenzie's mother was

Malngin The Malngin are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The Malngin language was a dialect of Gurindj. Country Norman Tindale estimated their tribal lands to have encompassed some and placed their western ...

and Gurundji and her father was a white horse-breaker. Under the existing policy during the time of her youth, McKenzie was at risk of removal by the government to an institution, as was the fate of many Aboriginal children with mixed parentage at the time. Her mother, however, prevented the displacement of her child by reportedly blackening her skin with charcoal, and the young girl grew up working for the stockmen of the cattle station at Texas Downs. McKenzie lived her entire life in the

Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the begin ...

, knew the landscape intimately, and is quoted as saying: "Every rock, every hill, every water, I know that place backwards and forwards, up and down, inside out. It's my country and I got names for every place". McKenzie took two Aboriginal names, once stating, "my name been grow up from these hills". Mingmarriya references the country near Dingo Springs on Texas Downs Station east of

Warmun Warmun Community (also known as Turkey Creek) and Warmun are a township and locality in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth, Western Australia. The closest populated town is Hal ...

(Turkey Creek), Western Australia where the artist lived and painted.

Career

McKenzie benefited from the Waringarri Aboriginal Arts Corporation. In 1993, former Arts Minister

Peter Foss Peter Gilbert da Conceição Foss KC (born 24 March 1946 in England) is a former Australian politician, who represented the Liberal Party. Elected to parliament in the 1989 state election, he was a member of the Western Australian Legislati ...

stated about the organization, "This organisation is doing an enormous amount to ensure that Aboriginal art is respected in terms of copyright and moral rights, and that Aboriginal artists are recompensed properly for their work". A painting by McKenzie depicting the

Mistake Creek massacre The Mistake Creek massacre was a massacre of Indigenous Australians that took place in Western Australia in 1915. Massacre On 28 March 1915, between 8 and 32 Gija people were shot and killed, and their bodies burned, at Mistake Creek in the ...

was bought by the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

in 2005, but due to controversy over the facts of the event, part of the

History Wars The history wars is a term used in Australia to describe the public debate about the interpretation of the history of the European colonisation of Australia and the development of contemporary Australian society, particularly with regard to th ...

, it had never been hung. From July 2020 it was put on display as part of a new exhibition titled "Talking Blak to History" at the Museum.

Major collections

Holmes à Court Collection Holmes may refer to: Name * Holmes (surname) * Holmes (given name) * Baron Holmes, noble title created twice in the Peerage of Ireland * Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond (born 1971), British former swimmer and life peer Places In the ...

Commercial success

McKenzie's art remains among Australia's most collectible. Her works have sold at auction for $8000 to $92000. McKenzie has also been consistently included within the Australian Indigenous Art Market top 100 index, ranking 21st in 2014.

Legacy

Throughout the final years of McKenzie's life, the artist exhibited concern for the cultural future of her community, and wished for the Texas Downs station to be returned to the Texas Mob. Though she died before witnessing her wishes manifest, McKenzie's importance has been recognized by the government of Western Australia, which declared her as a "State Living Treasure" the year of her death. McKenzie was included in the Moorditj-Australian Indigenous Cultural Expressions

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

, along with other Western Australian artists Jack Davis, Alma Toomath, Betty Egan, Michele Broun, the Pigram Brothers, Footprince, Wayne Barker, Sally Morgan,

Jimmy Chi James Ronald Chi (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical ''Bran Nue Dae'' which was adapted for film in 2009. Early life Chi was born in Broome, Western Australia in ...

and Mary Pantjiti McLean. In Western Australia, all pastoral land leases are up for renewal or surrender in 2015, including the Texas Downs station. McKenzie was cited as an important influence on the work of the Australian ceramic artist

Pippin Drysdale Pippin Drysdale (born 18 May 1943) is an Australian ceramic artist and art teacher. She is regarded as the foremost interpreter of the Australian landscape in the field of ceramics. Her works are known for their intensity of colour and linear m ...

References

External links

Queenie McKenzie
at the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

Example of a work by Queenie Nakarra
2004, in the National Museum of Australia. {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Queenie 1910s births 1998 deaths Australian Aboriginal artists Indigenous Australians from Western Australia Australian women painters People from Warmun Community 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian women artists