Jukuna Mona Chuguna

Jukuna – Mona Chuguna came from a place called Lantimangu in the Great Sandy Desert. As a young woman in the late 1950s, she walked with her husband, Peter Skipper, and some of his family to Cherrabun Station, where they stayed to work. After several years at Cherrabun they went to work on Meda and other stations. In the early 1970s Jukuna moved with her family to the United Aborigines Mission in Fitzroy Crossing. She was among the first group of women to attend Walmajarri literacy classes and with her newly acquired skill she began working with the SIL linguists on many projects. These included Bible translation, editing, dictionary checking and teaching Walmajarri to others. Later she became a student at the Karrayili Adult Education Centre, where she learned English and began painting pictures of her homeland. She has never forgotten her home country and she goes back to visit whenever she has the chance. Jukuna is a regular teacher of Walmajarri to students at the local school. She has travelled in Australia and overseas to exhibit her paintings. She has written a full account of her life story in her own language, with the intention of having it translated into English and published.

From Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route exhibition:
Jukuna was born at Kurntumangujarti. She fell in love with Kurrapa Peter Skipper as a young girl and left the desert with him, travelling north to the station country. In the 1960’s, Jukuna and Kurrapa moved to Fitzroy Crossing where they began attending adult education classes in the 1980’s. Jukuna wrote the story of her life in the desert in Walmajarri for the book Two Sisters.