‘She said “Nice boy, good worker, top rider, lucky one, that one"’, sings Paul Kelly in The Ballad of Queenie and Rover. ‘She said, “I want to paint”; he said, “I'll teach ya”’.
1 Queenie McKenzie Nakara, 1997 Greg Weight. © Gregory Weight/Copyright Agency, 2022. 2 Rover Thomas, 1986 Martin van der Wal. © Martin van der Wal.
Paul Kelly’s ballad tells the story of a beautiful friendship between two artists from the Warmun community in the East Kimberley. Encouraged by Rover Thomas, Queenie McKenzie Nakara, a Malngin-Gurindji woman, began painting in 1987. She had worked as a cattle station cook for almost 40 years, until she settled in Warmun in 1973, becoming a senior woman and leader. Rover Thomas, a Kukatja-Wangkajunga man, had begun painting in Warmun six years earlier, after many years as a stockman. They were old friends. In 1954, when Rover ripped open his scalp in a horse-riding accident, Queenie saved his life by expertly sewing him back together. Their powerful, eloquent paintings reflecting connection to Country, ancestral narratives and personal histories, saw them become two of Australia’s most important artists.
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