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Ngarndu Ngurra (My Yindjibarndi Country)

My childhood is filled with memories of a beautiful place called the Pilbara. It is a land that has always offered so much to our people. Our ancestors walked this Country with strength and wisdom, reading the riverbeds, knowing where to gather food, when to fish, and where to rest beneath cool shade. They understood the rhythms of the seasons and trusted in the land. When the rains come, the Country transforms. Wildflowers in purple and pink, shoots push through red earth, and the landscape breathes. There are many hidden treasures; plants that are food and bush medicines that carried our people through sickness and hard times. Survival was knowledge and respect.Today, the Country still hold its beauty through every season. Even in drought, Country remains Country. It is everything to me. It continues to provide, to teach, and to sustain us. Mining companies have transformed parts of the landscape in the Pilbara from how we remember it, but these changes have not stopped us from living our culture. We still go out bush with our families. We fish, swim, and camp together. We continue to practise our traditions in our own ways.Our memories remain strong, including those of our ancestors who have passed on. We always carry them in our hearts. We teach the younger generation about the early days so they can continue the journey. We teach them about tribal group boundaries and the importance of knowing place, the stories in the hills and the rivers. We tell them about who belonged before us and what those places mean.These memories of Country are our identity, our strength, and our future.

Categories: Yinjaa-Barni Art

Name: Allery Sandy

Language: Yindjibarndi

Biography:

Allery Sandy is a proud Yindjibarndi woman, daughter of Sandy Andrews and Lila King. She was born in Roebourne, the fourth of eleven children and has two daughters and a son. Allery's first job was with Community Welfare selling second-hand clothing, followed by running a play group in the community for local children. In 1986 she was employed as the Aboriginal Islander Education worker in Roebourne pre-primary School, followed in 1990 by teaching her own Yindjibarndi language through a LOTE (Languages Other Than English) program. In 2001 she left the school and found work with a team of women doing cooking and sewing and she is also involved in the ministry of the Pilbara Aboriginal Church.

Allery started painting in February 2006, enrolling in short courses in painting and design. She loves to paint the landscape of her Country from an aerial perspective. She begins her works with an underpainting using sponge and brush work and then finishes off with a fine layer of dot work, creating a sense of movement and depth of field on the canvas. Allery also loves depicting the wildflowers of her Country. She enjoys painting the bush seeds, its creeks and rivers, wildflowers in season and trees that are specific to her Pilbara Country. Her style continues to expand and more recently she has started painting aerial landscapes with fine line work on Pilbara earth.

Allery regularly exhibits in galleries around the country and her works are enjoyed in private and public collections around the world. She was the Chairperson of Yinjaa-Barni Art from 2006 - 2018, is a highly respected Elder of the Yindjibarndi community and a passionate communicator of her culture. Her two daughters have followed in their mother’s footsteps and are also established artists at Yinjaa-Barni Art Centre.

In 2014 Allery featured in Marni (My Painting Style), a long form documentary of her painting a commissioned work in her signature style. She is also a performer and cultural advisor in various performances with Big hART including ‘Hipbone Sticking Out’ and ‘Songs for Freedom’, touring nationally.

Allery has been a finalist in the very prestigious NATSIAAs three times, and in 2025 traveled abroad for the first time at 70 years old as the signature artist for the Colours of our Country exhibition in London, UK. Most recently, her artwork was shown as part of the Singapore Art Fair in early 2026, represented by Chalk Horse Gallery in Sydney.

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