Winnie Bamara facts for kids

Winnie Bamara (born around 1939 or 1940) was an amazing Indigenous Australian artist. She was the first Indigenous woman to paint in a realistic style, like taking a photograph with paint! People were amazed by her ability to paint detailed scenes just from memory in the 1950s. She was even called a "female Albert Namatjira", who was a very famous Indigenous artist.

Early Life and Challenges

Winnie Bamara was born in 1939 or 1940 on the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia, near a place called Ooldea. When she was seven, she moved to the Umeewarra Aborigines' Mission Station near Port Augusta.

Winnie faced some health challenges. She had a painful eye infection called trachoma. She spent three months in the Adelaide Children's Hospital for treatment. While there, she also caught polio, which wasn't noticed until she was back at the mission. Polio made her left arm thinner than her right. Later in life, she also developed diabetes.

Discovering Her Artistic Talent

Winnie went to the mission school. Her teacher, Miss M. Cantle, noticed that Winnie was very good at drawing. Even though Winnie's learning was affected by her time in the hospital, Miss Cantle encouraged her. She gave Winnie a box of watercolours.

Winnie surprised everyone because, without any lessons, she could paint landscapes around Port Augusta. She painted them perfectly, showing depth and distance, all from her memory! In 1957, her teacher told a newspaper:

"On outings to the Flinders Range, Minnie [sic] seems able to make a mental photograph of a landscape in three-dimensional colour. She does no sketching or painting on the spot but paints the scene in watercolour at the mission."

Winnie later became a teacher at the Mission School when she was in her twenties.

Winnie's art was in a Western realistic style. People said she had a "photographic memory" because she could remember details so well. She was the first Indigenous Australian woman known to paint in this realistic way. People tried to give her art lessons, but she preferred to learn by herself.

In 1957, the National Art School in Sydney offered her free lessons. She flew there and spent a week at the school. However, she was very shy and didn't talk much to her teachers or other students. The school's principal, Mr. L. Roy Davies, said it was "extraordinary" that an untrained girl from a mission could paint such realistic pictures.

Growing Reputation

Winnie's amazing talent caught the eye of newspapers in Adelaide and other parts of Australia. In 1959, a photographer named David Beal visited the mission and took pictures of Winnie and her artwork.

The Sunday Mail newspaper was very interested in her work. They helped organize an exhibition of her paintings in Adelaide in February 1959. The Mayor of Port Augusta, Mr. Lyn Riches, drove Winnie to the opening. He also introduced many important people from Australia and other countries to her art. A well-known journalist, Sir Lloyd Dumas, opened the show. About 200 people attended the opening, and 8,000 visitors came to see the exhibition. All of her paintings sold out!

Later Career and Activism

By 1961, Winnie had finished her first year of study at the South Australia School of Art in Adelaide. She won a special prize for being the most improved student in oil painting that year. In 1963, her work was shown in the Advertiser Open-Air Art Exhibition.

In 1985, when she was 45, Winnie was still painting. She received $1400 from the Aboriginal Arts Board to buy art supplies.

In 1987, Winnie, who lived near Maralinga, created a powerful painting for a poster. This poster protested the nuclear tests that the British government had done at Maralinga. Her painting showed a nuclear bomb exploding on the Maralinga lands, with three Indigenous people watching. The poster shared the history of these tests.

Personal Life

In the 1960s, Winnie Bamara married William Fredrick Smith. They had several children: Russell, Robyn, Anthony, and Shona. Two other children, Eugene and Lillian, passed away before their father. The exact date of Winnie's death is not known, but she was mentioned as "the late" Winnie Bamara in her husband's obituary in 2014. She is buried in the Port Augusta General Cemetery.

Exhibitions

• 1959: An exhibition of watercolors by Winnie Bamara : sponsored by The Sunday Mail, Public library lecture room, North Terrace, February 17–24
• 1963: Advertiser Open-air Art Exhibition, Adelaide
• 1974: Aboriginal Art Show at the Academy of Science in Acton, Canberra
• 2010, May: Winnie Bamara – The shy girl with the photographic eyes, Port Augusta Cultural Centre

Collections

Winnie Bamara's art was so well-regarded that one of her paintings was given to President Sukarno of Indonesia. Another painting was bought by Prince Philip.

• National Museum of Australia

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