North West Australia

Distinguished and Famous people from North West Australia

🛡️ Jandamarra

Jandamarra grew up on Bunuba Country as pastoral occupation spread into the Kimberley. After working within the settlers’ economy and as a police tracker, he became a leader of armed resistance. His knowledge of the ranges helped sustain that struggle against colonial police. He was killed at Tunnel Creek in 1897. Bunuba accounts and commemorations place his life within the defence of Country and the survival of a community, rather than treating him simply as an outlaw. His story gives the north-west’s dramatic landscape a human and political history that scenery alone cannot convey.

🖌️ Queenie McKenzie

Queenie McKenzie spent her life in the Texas Downs and Warmun area of the East Kimberley. A Gija woman, teacher and artist, she used painting to communicate knowledge of Country and culture. Her ochre landscapes give hills and landmarks a strong presence, often presenting them in profile rather than as distant scenery. She also negotiated protection for sacred women’s sites around the Argyle diamond mine. Her paintings and community work shared a purpose: ensuring that younger generations could inherit knowledge, language and responsibilities. The beautiful surfaces carry particular places and histories, not a generalised image of the Australian desert.

🎵 Jimmy Chi

Jimmy Chi grew up in Broome before schooling in Perth, carrying the town’s cultural diversity into a distinctive musical voice. Bran Nue Dae brought humour, songs and Aboriginal experience to the stage and later to the cinema. The work made room for serious questions about identity and discrimination without surrendering its comic energy. Chi’s career also unfolded alongside significant mental-health difficulties. Recognition included a national human-rights award for writing and designation as a Western Australian Living Treasure. Broome was both home and a rich cultural setting for work that found audiences far beyond the Kimberley.