Menindee Girl: The Story of my Life

Ngiyampaa Elder Aunty Joyce Hampton’s life mirrors the journey of many people from the far west of the NSW including Ngiyampaa and Paakantji, who, within the Twentieth Century, were moved onto camps for the first time, became part of the Aboriginal missions and reserves system, and then, with the resettlement period of the 1970s, moved on to major inland centres like Dubbo and Wagga Wagga with the promise of jobs, better housing and education opportunities for their children. In this time they were moved off their Country, language was actively discouraged and significant aspects of culture, kinship and identity were lost.

Aunty Joyce's book represents the continuation of her culture. She remains strongly connected to Country. Her life story describes not just who she is now, as a senior Elder in Wagga. Like one of her weavings, it joins the threads and makes links to all the peoples and places of her life’s journey, ultimately stretching back through her to her Ngiyampaa ancestors and their Country. She provides evidence of the continuation of the web of interconnection to family, culture and country that for her now stretches all over NSW. Aunty Joyce, in her quiet strength and elegance, demonstrates what it is to be a Ngiyampaa Elder.