Wendy Hubert

Born 1954 at Red Hill Station on Guruma Country, Australia
Lives and works in Yindjibarndi Country, Ieramagadu and Whadjuk Country, Australia
Yindjibarndi

UNSW Galleries

Afghans Bought the Palms, 2021
acrylic on canvas
Courtesy the artist and Juluwarlu Art Group, Roebourne

If you were to find yourself on the red coast of Western Australia in the small town of Roebourne on the North-West Coastal Highway, and then drove nearly two hours inland, you would arrive at the heartland of the Yindjibarndi people. Crossing wide stretches of desert and rocky outcrops, what is now Millstream Chichester National Park might appear like a mirage. Characterised by lush gorges, crystal pools, and springs ringed by desert peas, Northern bluebells, and wattle, the region is bejewelled with unexpected palm trees.

Introduced in the 1800s by Muslim cameleers who traversed the desert, these date palms were planted to provide food and mark waterholes, both of which were crucial to survival in the scorching heat of the Pilbara. For Yindjibarndi Elder, cultural custodian, artist, and linguist Wendy Hubert, these date palms make up part of the cultural history and landscape she is dedicated to preserving and sharing with young people in her community.

Symbols of the cameleers’ attempts to carve out a place for themselves in a nation whose administration was less forgiving than the stark environment they travelled through, the palms are a testament to the endurance of the South Asian men who planted them, and to the generosity of the First Nations artist who paints them.

Wendy Hubert is a respected Yindjibarndi Elder, Cultural Custodian and linguist who has lived passionately and supported her Roebourne and Yindjibarndi community for more than 40 years. Hubert’s paintings often feature her Yindjibarndi and Guruma Countries – places she paints either from memory or in situ when she returns home to camp or visit from Roebourne, where she is currently based. As Hubert paints, she inspires her young people with her memories and stories of Yindjibarndi culture and the Yindjibarndi cultural heroes she has worked with during her lifetime of commitment. 

Read more about the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, by purchasing the catalogue here.