Media Release, Word of mouth creates Aboriginal literature exhibition, South Australian Museum, January 2026

A vibrant exhibition celebrating a groundbreaking literature program at a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory has proudly opened at the South Australian Museum.

The exhibition, Wangka Walytja: The life and times of the Papunya Literature Production Centre, will feature in the Museum’s world-renowned Aboriginal Cultures Gallery until 8 June.

Wangka Walytja, which is presented by Artback NT, celebrates the Papunya school’s rich legacy, established between 1979 and 1990.

During this fascinating period, a collective of writers, artists, literacy workers, and elders from Papunya produced hundreds of beautifully illustrated books in the local Pintupi Luritja language as part of the school’s bilingual program.

The exhibition showcases original drawings, storybooks, community newsletters, handwritten manuscripts, photographs, and audio recordings from the archive.

There are also new animations of selected books, animations called talking books, and a documentary featuring creators and their descendants reflecting on this pivotal period in history.

Papunya’s first literate generation accomplished the revolutionary transposition of an oral tradition of storytelling into the medium of alphabetic literacy and representational imagery.

Hundreds of books were created in an upwelling of creativity and collective intellectual endeavour entirely comparable with their parents’ contemporaneous painting movement, for which Papunya is internationally famous.

Papunya’s writers and illustrators documented their community’s history, culture, and everyday life for subsequent generations, often with brutal honesty, thereby producing the first Pintupi-Luritja literature.

Visit the South Australian Museum What’s On page for more information on Wangka Walytja.

Comments Attributable to South Australian Museum Director Dr Samantha Hamilton

Wangka Walytja is a fascinating exhibition that captures a special moment in time for the people of Papunya, and for all Australians.

The innovative program at the Papunya Literature Production Centre helped the whole community record their treasured oral histories in writing, in their own language.

The items on display in the exhibition also document everyday life in wonderfully novel ways to provide a snapshot in time for a community undergoing remarkable change.

Comments attributable to Arts Minister Andrea Michaels

The South Australian Museum’s recent Ride On, Shine on exhibition featuring the work of artists from Warmun in the Kimberly Ranges was a huge success and attracted 30,000 visitors.

This new Wangka Walytja exhibition is another outstanding example of how the South Australian Museum is able to connect the wider community with Aboriginal Australia.

Comments attributable to artist Douglas Multa

We learnt from the old people – the artists doing the dot paintings back then – and we thought, ‘Oh we’ll do a bit different than that one. We’ll draw a picture.’ That’s how we came to put the books out.

Comments attributable to Curator/artist Charlotte Phillipus

It was really wonderful how they illustrated all those traditional cultural stories with such fantastic authenticity and creativity.

And we focused on the collecting and recording process of the stories and the transcriptions. So that was our working life.

Comments attributable to Curator/artist Dennis Kulata Nelson

We created all these books together with the old people in Papunya, many of whom have now passed on, those dear things.

We devoted a great many years to this work – more than ten years – a lifetime.

Comments attributable to Curator/artist Priscilla Brown

We really did some significant work there.

Acknowledgement

Curated by Karen McDonald, Roslyn Dixon, Kulata Dennis Nelson Tjakamarra, Priscilla Brown, Charlotte Phillipus Napurrula, Vivien Johnson and Samantha Disbray.

Artback NT is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia and supported by the Northern Territory Government through Arts NT. Artback NT is a member of NETS Australia. NETS Australia is assisted by the Visual Art, Craft and Design Framework, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments. Artback NT presents this exhibition in collaboration with Papunya Tjupi Arts and researchers from The University of Queensland. This exhibition has been made possible by Australian Research Council, Creative Australia, and Regional Arts Fund.

For more information or to organise an interview, please contact: The South Australian Museum media line I 0466 389 019 | [email protected]