This is the Titjikala road and we were heading to Alice Springs for shopping. We sitting down, having water and sandwiches. That white car is headed to Titjikala and the other direction is Alice Springs. We leave early in the morning, fuel up at Maryvale Station. In the afternoon we go back to Titjikala and arrive in the night time. We get lollies and cool drink for the kids in Alice springs.
Name: Elizabeth Douglas
Language: Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara
Community: Alice Springs
Biography:
Elizabeth was born in Alice Springs. Her mother was a member of the Douglas family from Indulkana (Yankunytjatjara side), and her father's father was an Afghan cameleer who married an Arrernte woman. Their son was Elizabeth's father Musty Syddick, who was born at Hermannsburg Mission, where her grandfather Syddick (or Sedeek) Khan worked for a while as a cameleer. However, the couple did not stay together, so Elizabeth and her younger brother Roy Douglas were raised by the Douglas family for whom Walinynga (Cave Hill) is the Homeland, along with elder cousin brother, Stanley Douglas. The family moved a great deal as the parents worked in various jobs in Alice Springs and then on pastoral stations and in various communities including Amata, where Elizabeth lived for a long time as a child.
Elizabeth married up in Port Augusta then came back to Alice Springs to spend time with Musty Syddick, her biological father. She then returned to Amata. She has a daughter living in Adelaide and has three granddaughters and four grandsons, all in Adelaide. She has a son, also in Alice Springs, but her brother raised him for Elizabeth.
Elizabeth learned to paint while living in Mutitjulu, where she painted the Seven Sisters Tjukurpa associated with the Douglas family’s site, Walinynga. But once her partner passed away, she moved back to Alice Springs and has been painting alongside her 'sister from one father', Tangentyere Artists' Marjorie Williams. Both women were acknowledged by Musty Syddick as his daughters, although their mothers were different.
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