Papunya’s bilingual readers brought to life in National Library exhibition

Hundreds of bilingual children’s books created by the Papunya community from 1979 through to 1990 are being showcased in a major new exhibition at the National Library of Australia, spotlighting an Aboriginal-led publishing movement that helped preserve Pintupi‑Luritja language and culture for the next generation.

The exhibition, Wangka Wakaṉutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre, draws on work produced at the Papunya Literature Production Centre (PLPC) between 1979 and 1990. The centre produced hundreds of illustrated readers as literacy tools for local schoolchildren, with stories ranging from everyday community life to Dreamings, plants, animals and accounts of first contact.

Papunya, in the Western Desert region of the Northern Territory, is widely known as the birthplace of the Western Desert art movement. Many of the PLPC books feature artwork by community members, including artists who became nationally recognised through that movement.

The National Library says it received more than 350 of the readers through legal deposit and, with consultation from the community, digitised more than 350 publications as part of a project completed in 2024. The books are now available online via Trove, while the Canberra exhibition brings together readers, photographs, drawings, manuscripts, ephemera and oral histories from Papunya community collections as well as material held by the Library, Papunya School and other archives.

For Papunya residents involved in curating the show, the exhibition is as much about family memory as national recognition. Co‑curator Roslyn Dixon described the emotional impact of seeing the material displayed. “When we first came in, when we saw all the pictures and stories, I nearly cried!” she said.

The Library has issued a cultural advisory notice, warning the exhibition and related material may include culturally sensitive content, including images and records of people who have passed away.

The exhibition opened on 4 April and will run until 11 October 2026, with free entry. For many in Papunya, the public spotlight on the PLPC’s work is also a reminder that community-controlled education and language resources can endure – especially when they are created locally, guided by Elders and kept in safe hands.