Eubena (Yupinya) Nampitjin is the best known of Balgo's many painters. Below is a short summary of her life. Eubena was born some time in the 1920s at Tjinjadpa, west of Jupiter Well on the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia. She speaks Wangkajungka and Kukatja languages. She is one of the most esteemed law women in the Balgo community, being consulted and deferred to on all questions of law.

When she was a young girl, Eubena was taught her maparn (traditional healer) skills by her mother Moogaga. The family travelled and hunted on the northern fringes of the Great Sandy Desert, performing ceremonies and law for the upkeep of their country and their own spiritual preservation.

Nomadic life was harsh and most of her...