AustLit

'Kanakiya Myra Ah Chee was born in the Australian Inland Mission Hospital in Oodnadatta in 1932 and grew up living in a watuti (lean-to) on the fringes of Oodnadatta township. Fluent in her language — Matuntjara — Myra is an interpreter and translator of the many dialects of the Western Desert Language, and worked for many years training interpreters. She is an artist, inspired by her unique life amongst the gibber plains, sand dunes, river systems and stony deserts of her father’s, mother’s and grandparents’ traditional country. Myra has just turned 89 years old and is now retired. She has three grandchildren and lives in Alice Springs.'