Lilla Watson facts for kids

Lilla Watson (born 1940) is a famous Murri woman from Australia. She is an Indigenous Australian visual artist, an activist who works for change, and a university teacher. She focuses on topics important to Aboriginal people and women.

Early Life and Learning

Lilla Watson is a Gangulu woman. She grew up near the Dawson River in Central Queensland. This area is known as her "Mother's Mother's country." In the late 1960s, Lilla moved to Brisbane.

There, she and her family became well known. They were very involved in the Indigenous community. Lilla later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Queensland.

Working for Aboriginal Rights

After finishing her studies, Lilla Watson worked at the University of Queensland for ten years. For six of those years, she taught about Aboriginal Welfare. She created courses that shared Aboriginal ways of thinking. She also served on the University Senate, which helps run the university.

Lilla has done a lot to help Aboriginal and Islander people. She was the first president of the Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agency. This group helps children and families. She also helped start the Brisbane Indigenous Media Association. This group shares news and stories from Indigenous communities.

In the late 1980s, she was part of the Aboriginal and Islander Independent School Board. Lilla has also advised many government and non-government groups. She has helped them make better decisions for Indigenous people.

Her Art Career

After leaving her teaching job in the 1990s, Lilla Watson started making unique art. She developed a special way of creating images. She uses hundreds of small holes, burned into layers of paper. She calls these artworks "burnings."

Many of her pieces are inspired by traditional Aboriginal art. They also show the beautiful landscape of Queensland. Lilla says her art shows an "ants eyeview." This means looking up through roots and leaves from under the ground. It's like looking up through the earth itself, the "Land."

Lilla's art shows her culture and spiritual beliefs. People in Australia and around the world admire her work. Over the years, she has expanded her art. She has made art with other artists, like Soft Night Falling (2005) with saxophonist Tim O'Dwyer.

You can also see her public artworks in many places. These include the New State Library in Brisbane. Her art is also at the Roma Street Parkland and the new Brisbane Magistrates Court (2004). In 2015, the Queensland University of Technology gave her an honorary doctorate. This is a special award from a university.

Famous Quote

Lilla Watson is often linked to a very powerful quote:

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time.

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

This quote has become a motto for many activist groups. It is used in Australia and other countries. Lilla first shared this quote at a United Nations conference in Nairobi in 1985.

However, she explains that the idea came from an Aboriginal Rights group. She was part of this group in Queensland in the early 1970s. They all worked together to create the phrase. Because of this, she doesn't like to be called the only author of the quote.

In 2019, the University of Queensland honored Lilla. This was her old university. They gave her an Indigenous Community Impact Award. This award recognized her important work as a teacher, artist, and activist.