Wangka Wakaṉutja: The remarkable and beautiful stories preserved for Papunya children

Posted on 9 April, 2026

The National Library of Australia has always revered children’s stories.

And in a major exhibition and an important new book – Wangka Wakaṉutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre – the Library is shining a spotlight on the decades-long, remarkable efforts of the Papunya community to record language and culture and keep it alive among the pages of hundreds of children’s books.

The remarkable literary and artistic output of the Papunya Literature Production Centre has been meticulously maintained and presented in a colourful exhibition which will interest children and adults alike.

Thomas Stevens, illustration in Kantina, Kuula,Ngurra, 1985

Papunya is a remote Aboriginal community in the Western Desert region of the Northern Territory, and the birthplace of the internationally known Western Desert art movement. Between 1979 and 1990, the Papunya Literature Production Centre produced hundreds of Pintupi-Luritja bilingual readers guided by the community’s Elders, among them pioneers of the Western Desert art movement.

The readers – illustrated books – were produced as literacy tools for local schoolchildren and tell stories of first contact, Dreamings, community life, plants, animals and more. Some are funny and wildly creative. Others are moving, dramatic and extraordinary. Together, they form a living record of an Indigenous language, safeguarding the knowledge and stories contained within them for future generations.

National Library Director-General, Dr Marie-Louise Ayres FAHA

Dr Marie-Louise Ayres FAHA, Director-General of the National Library of Australia, said she could not wait to bring her grandchildren to the exhibition to share cultural and historical learnings with them, as well as thrilling stories.

“The commitment of the community through the Literature Production Centre to saying our children are entitled to learn our stories in our languages, and we are going to make that happen, is incredible.”

In the 10 years the Literature Production Centre was operating, the library received more than 350 readers under legal deposit provisions, where they have remained in safekeeping.

“These books have been safe in our collections for decades, and now it is their time to come out and be seen and renewed and appreciated,” said Dr Ayres.

“One of the many wonderful things about working here at the library is that for the collections that have been with us for a long time, their moment always comes, when it is right for their community. And we regard this exhibition as very much belonging to the Papunya community.”

Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous Library Patron and in consultation with the Papunya community, the 350 readers from the Library’s collections have also been digitised and are now freely available online through Trove.

Murphy Robert reading with children as part of the school’s “lap reading” program,1986, courtesy of the Papunya Literature Production Centre Archive

The exhibition, Wangka Wakaṉutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre, brings them to life and builds on a recent exhibition on show at the Library and Archives NT in Darwin. It features stories, drawings, photographs, manuscripts, ephemera and oral histories from the collections of the Papunya community, Papunya School, National Library of Australia, Australian National University, and other private collections.

The exhibition is curated by Karen McDonald, Roslyn Dixon, Kuḻaṯa Dennis Nelson, Priscilla Brown, Charlotte Phillipus, Vivien Johnson, Samantha Disbray, Guy Hansen, Allister Mills and Loris Gulliver.

At a special opening, members of the Papunya community who were part of the Literature Production Centre and co-curated the exhibition visited the Library, expressing enormous pride in the moment.

Released simultaneously with the exhibition opening is a landmark publication of the same name from NLA Publishing written by Vivien Johnson, Charlotte Phillipus and Samantha Disbray. It shares the overarching story of this important Aboriginal literary movement, powered by collective creativity and cultural pride and the remarkable story of the books they made, from their creation and use to their loss and rediscovery. The book includes fully illustrated recreations of several Papunya readers in Pintupi-Luritja language.

Wangka Wakaṉutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre will run until Sunday 11 October 2026. Entry to the exhibition gallery is free, no bookings required, and the book is available for purchase from the National Library bookshop.

Main image from left to right: Watson Corby, Roslyn Dixon, Professor Vivien Johnson, Kulata Dennis Nelson, Priscilla Brown, Dr Samantha Disbray, Karen McDonald