Born in Areyonga, NT, where she went to school, Umbidong would come back to Uluru to spend the holidays there, since there was no school at the Rock in those days. She now lives at in the Mutitjulu comunity, Uluru. She remembers making and selling carvings at Uluru when she was young, before the Maruku Arts and Crafts enterprise was established. Her mother and father used to make artefacts to sell to the tourists and taught her to carve and incise designs with hot wire. She also enjoys wood carving, which her sister Barbara teaches her. She only makes nulla nullas, having tried a lizard once and found it 'too hard’. She finds painting easier and likes to do both large and small paintings. She always paints her grandmother’s country near Docker River, even her little paintings are about this place. The Dreaming track for this story comes through Uluru. Umbidong works in the community as a health worker, working at weekends on her painting and carving.

Writers:

Johnson, Vivien

Date written:

1994

Last updated:

2011