Pauline is painting tjukurpa (story) about the journey of water, explaining how to care for kapi tjukula (water holes), particularly in the area around paralpii (Victory Well). This tjukurpa was passed on to her by her mother.

“One time when I was a little girl, my mother and me went out driving to collect bush tucker. It was a very hot day, and our car broke down. We didn’t have any water with us, and I was scared, but my mother led me away from the car to kapi tjukula really closeby. She taught me how to find it, and how to care for it. After emptying the kapi (water) with mara munu punu (hands and sticks) the empty tjukula is cleaned. We place punu tjuta (many sticks and branches) over the top of the tjukula and use puli pulka (big rock) to stop them blowing away. Now no animals can dirty the new water that will soon collect.”

Mimili Community is home to 300 Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people who have been living in the area for millennia in harmony with nature and acting as custodians of the land and the Tjukurpa (creation stories). Mimili was formerly known as Everard Park, which was a cattle station that was returned to Aboriginal ownership through the 1981 APY Lands Act. Mimili Community was incorporated as an Aboriginal Community in 1975.