Charlie was born between 1928 and the late 1930s in a very isolated area of the bush. He is the brother of "Helicopter" Tjungurrayi and the cousin of Patrick and Brandy Tjungurrayi, all three very important artists. As a young man he traveled wide and spent time around Kiwirrkurra where he lived afterwards. His first encounter with the western world is the observation of a cow (an animal brought from Europe, which did not exist in Australia before the arrival of white men).

After the famous evacuation of his sick cousin (hence his nickname Helicopter), the family travels the Canning Stock Route before moving to the mission of Balgo. This is where he grows up. He leaves Balgo after his marriage with Jose...