Irrunytju (Rockhole) - Kuntjil Cooper

Kuntjil Cooper, a senior Pitjantjatjara artist, was born at Irrunytju rockhole around 1920. For many years she lived a semi-nomadic life in the desert around Irrunytju with her extended family. Kuntjil met 'whitefellas' for the first time as a teenager. They gave her food, but she was wary and while pretending to eat, buried it in the sand.

'We stopped at Irrunytju rockhole for a really long time, because of that big waterhole the whitefellas dug. We'd all learnt about the whitefellas, we'd seen lot of whitefellas coming and going, so we left Irrunytju. We went to the mission down in Ernabella. While we were travelling there we heard a big noise. Maybe thunder, we thought. We didn't know about those bombs. So we turned away and travelled north. But we did get to Ernabella. And we smelt the smoke, funny smell it made us sick. It was smoke from the bomb. that big noise. Some were dying. Diarrhoea and everything came from that smell. So we didn't want to stop there"

Kuntjil is a very highly regarded minyma pampa (senior woman) and respected for her extensive knowledge of the women's tjukurpa, especially Minyma Kutjara (Two Sisters) and Minyma Tjuta (Seven Sister Dreaming) which is associated with her mother's country.