Susie Bootja Bootja

Susie was a vibrant and colourful personality respected for her knowledge of the law and ceremony of Kurtal (freshwater spring in WA).  She told stories about playing at the waterhole of Kangingarra (northern reaches of the Canning Stock Route) where she spent her youth. Susie walked in from the desert as a teenager to Tjumundora, one of the early mission sites.  

When Susie moved to the old mission at Balgo, she worked in the kitchen making bread and helping serve food to the dormitory children. There she met her first husband and had her first child, Lucy. Her husband was killed on a mustering trip due to inter–tribal conflict and left her a widow. Later she eloped with Mick Gill and had another six children and they remain a devoted couple until Susie passed away.  

Susie was one of the first women painters in Balgo and is well known for her initial dual use of western and traditional representations of country (hills, trees, snakes) along with lively use of bright greens, pinks and sky blues. Her innovative dotted colour fields began in 1996, and she continued to develop her style each year. Her eldest son, Matthew Gill, with Sister Alice Dempsey from the St John's Adult Education Centre, started up the Art Centre in Balgo in 1985.  

Since then Susie produced a profusion of paintings that are filled with her exuberant personality and her joy for life. She travelled widely with her art, including to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin and Kununurra. Susie was proud of her ability to sing both in English and Kukatja, as well as her ceremonial dancing.  She was also a keen and knowledgeable hunter.