Biography

Dadu Nungarrayi Gorey was born on the 2nd of April 1955 at Glen Allen Station, near Papunyu, a remote Aboriginal community 270km west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Her father comes from Kakadu, near Darwin, and came to central Australia to work at Nowitorma Station with the cattle and horses, where he met her mother who was employed in the home. The family moved to Papunyu Community where Dadu went to school. Dadu married and had one daughter who she brought to Yuendumu, an Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs, after her husband passed away. Dadu has been painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in Yuendumu, since 1987. She paints the Jukurrpa (dreaming stories) from her country, Glen Allen Station, Dreamings which relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that live on the land. These stories were passed have been passed down through the generations for millennia. Dadu uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. The traditional designs and icons used in her artwork denote place and describe paths or movement. When both Dadu and her daughter Selena Nakamarra Gorey first joined the Warlukurlangu Artists, they not only painted with the art centre but worked in the art centre as cleaners and childcarers. Dadu is now a grandmother and likes spending time with her grandchildren.