Noli Rictor may well be the youngest ‘first contact’ Aboriginal person in Australia. The year was 1986 and Noli was the youngest of three boys in the Rictor family when relatives, having previously seen signs that a group were in the remote area, made contact with them, in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia.
They were persuaded to come into the small settlement of Yakaduna to the south, where most of the Spinifex people now resided. This would be a monumental for Noli who was just twenty-one years old at the time and had survived as a traditional hunter – gatherer, in the desert with only his immediate family, as all other people had left 30 years prior with the British atomic testing taking place at Maralinga.
Noli found immediate respect with the older men of the settlement for his vast knowledge of country and Law and this has not changed as time has moved, with Noli still consulted on all things Spinifex. His young life spent roaming the plains and sandhills is now seen as an invaluable education for the young generaons of Spinifex children who have adjusted to sedentary community life. Noli began his painting career with a couple of works in 2004 with Ninuku Artists at Kalka where he was residing.
After his first few works he didn’t pick up a brush again until 2016 in Tjuntjuntjara. He now lives and works at Tjuntjuntjara with the Spinifex Arts Project.
Noli Rictor may well be the youngest ‘first contact’ Aboriginal person in Australia. The year was 1986 and Noli was the youngest of three boys in the Rictor family when relatives, having previously seen signs that a group were in the remote area, made contact with them, in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia.
They were persuaded to come into the small settlement of Yakaduna to the south, where most of the Spinifex people now resided. This would be a monumental for Noli who was just twenty-one years old at the time and had survived as a traditional hunter – gatherer, in the desert with only his immediate family, as all other people had left 30 years prior with the British atomic testing taking place at Maralinga.
Noli found immediate respect with the older men of the settlement for his vast knowledge of country and Law and this has not changed as time has moved, with Noli still consulted on all things Spinifex. His young life spent roaming the plains and sandhills is now seen as an invaluable education for the young generaons of Spinifex children who have adjusted to sedentary community life. Noli began his painting career with a couple of works in 2004 with Ninuku Artists at Kalka where he was residing.
After his first few works he didn’t pick up a brush again until 2016 in Tjuntjuntjara. He now lives and works at Tjuntjuntjara with the Spinifex Arts Project.