Kapululangu's Board of Elders and Directors, and Staff
The Women Elders are Kapululangu’s driving force. They are among the last Indigenous Australians to have been born and raised in the desert before the arrival of Whites in their ancestral lands.
Ruby Darkie Nangala
A Djaru woman, she is a boss for Wirrimanu and Luurnpa / Kingfisher Dreaming. She is Kapululangu’s current Chairwoman.
Manaya Sarah Daniels Napanangka
An important Song Woman and Dancer, Manaya is recognised as one of the most powerful Law Women of Balgo. A Luritja woman who had first contact with White society in the mid 1960s, she is a world-renown artist.
Payi Payi (Bai Bai) Sunfly Napangarti
A Kukatja woman, she is an important Song Woman, story-teller, teacher and healer, and a world-renown artist.
Mungkina Dora Rockman Napaltjarri (aka Mungkirna Napaltjarri)
One of Australia’s ten remaining Ngarti, she is a very powerful Tjarrtjurra Healer. She is a founding caretaker of the Kapululangu Law Women’s House.
Maudie Mandigalli Napanangka
A Djaru woman, she is a founding caretaker of the Kapululangu Law Women’s House and an important Law woman.
Linda Charmawina Napangarti
She is Payi Payi Sunfly's older sister. She spent much of her older childhood living in Old Balgo, Beagle Bay, Derby, Wyndham and other places.
Marie "Nakarra" Mudgedell Nakamarra
A young Ngarti Elder, she has apprenticed herself to the older elders for many year. Nakarra is following in the footprints of her mother who was one of Balgo's strongest Song Women. An artist, she has written and produced many locally-based Kukatja language books.
Dr Zohl de Ishtar
Irish-Australian by heritage, Zohl has over 40 years experience living and working cross-culturally with Indigenous peoples internationally, but particularly throughout Australia and the Pacific. She has been involved with Balgo community since 1993, and lived with the Women Elders since she worked with them to co-found Kapululangu. Internationally renowned for her work with Indigenous women and their communities, she was nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 as part of the 1000 Women for Peace initiative. A sociologist with a PhD in Women's Studies, she has authored three books on Indigenous women's struggles against colonisation, militarisation and nuclearlisation. She currently lives on the Women's Law Ground in Balgo.
Deceased (WARNING)
The List of Elders and Directors would be incomplete without reference to the Founder of the Kapululangu Aboriginal Women's Law and Culture Centre, Yintjurru Margaret Anjule Bumblebee Napurrula. She was the very first Aboriginal woman to move into the Women's Law Ground in 1999 and was an inspirational leader and great advocate for Women's Law and Culture. Accordingly, she was awarded the title of East Kimberley Elder of the Year in 2010. She died on September 12, 2011. She is sadly missed.
