Wenten Rubuntja

Acclaimed watercolour painter Albert Namatjira was his father's cousin. He grew up around the town camps of Alice Springs, where many missionaries were active, and he was baptised by Catholic, Lutheran, and numerous other missionaries. He, like the other children around, were often baptised numerous times by the same person in exchange for a lolly, treat or meal. Rubuntja would later say of this: During this period it was the missionary Ernest Kramer who gave him his European name. Rubuntja attended mission schools briefly, but did not learn to read or write. He did however adapt the Christian world view with his own Arrernte traditional spirituality.

Rubuntja has said that he was born in between 1923 and 1928 (therefore estimated at 1926) at Burt Creek (Mpweringke), a small outstation, north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia and he had the skinname Pengarte. He was the son of goatherd Bob Rubuntja, and had a brother, Ambrose and a sister named Ruby. His father had helped postmaster and anthropologist Frank Gillen, who wrote detailed accounts of Arrernte culture. Acclaimed watercolour painter Albert Namatjira was his father's cousin. As a young man, Rubuntja was taken to Mount Hay (Urepentye), the traditional land of his father, where he was entrusted with the Fire Altyerre that was part of his cultural heritage; he also held a number of other dreamings. He grew up around the town camps of Alice Springs, where many missionaries were active, and he was baptised by Catholic, Lutheran, and numerous other missionaries. He, like the other children around, were often baptised numerous times by the same person in exchange for a lolly, treat or meal. Rubuntja would later say of this: During this period it was the missionary Ernest Kramer who gave him his European name. Rubuntja attended mission schools briefly, but did not learn to read or write. He did however adapt the Christian world view with his own Arrernte traditional spirituality.

In the early 1940s he lived at the Little Flower Mission, near Alice Springs, and then moving with it to Arltunga with the outbreak of World War II and, from this point on (at around 15 years of age) Rubuntja entered the workforce. During this period he hunted kangaroos to feed the troops and performed menial jobs on cattle stations; some of the only work that was open to Aboriginal people. In 1945 they moved to the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, which was then being used as an 'Aboriginal Reserve'; this was the former site of The Bungalow. From this point he worked in various roles, both in and out of Alice Springs, including as stockman, a role for with he travelled widely, as well as taking work as a brickmaker, timber cutter, famer and in other odd jobs. He also rode as a jockey at the Hermannsburg Races.

Rubuntja's life changed after seeing his uncle Albert Namatjira at work, and he has said that Namatjira was his primary artistic mentor. They spent a period of time together in the 1950s, during a slow period of stock work, in which he would spend hours watching him paint. He said of this: From the 1960s Rubuntja decided to turn to painting and advocacy for his community rather than focusing on stock work as he had been.

In 1975, Charlie Perkins was elected as first chair of the Central Land Council chair, and Rubuntja as his deputy. He served as chairman of the Central Land Council in 1976-1980 and 1985-88. In 1976 he led over 1,000 Aboriginal people through Alice Springs demanding the passage of the Land Rights Act proposed (and passed that year) by the Liberal government led by Malcolm Fraser, and followed that up by touring the country addressing crowds on the topic. In 1988, Rubuntja and Galarrwuy Yunupingu presented Prime Minister Bob Hawke with the Barunga Statement (painted by Runbuntja and several others), which called for a treaty, at the Barunga Festival in Barunga. Rubuntja played a key part in protecting many sacred sites in and around Alice Springs. Partly due to his efforts, the Federal Court of Australia recognised native title for the Arrernte people over large areas around Alice Springs in 2000 - the first time that Aboriginal people had been given title over municipal land. Rubuntja was a skilled negotiator, being able to integrate Indigenous and non-Indigenous concepts in a way that brought resolutions that satisfied all parties. He was a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1991 and 1995. He co-founded Tangentyere Council, which provided tenure and essential services for Alice Springs town camps, and he also played a role in the founding of Yipirinya School and the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress.

Rabuntja was also a storyteller and oral historian. He played football for Amoonguna in Alice Springs. He assisted archaeologist Mike Smith in his work.

In the 1950s, Rubuntja married Cynthia, whose surname is variously reported as Kupitja (by their son, Mervyn), and Uburtja. She was a Luritja woman. They had seven children, including Mervyn, Marlene, and Sally. Mervyn also painted in the Hermannsburg tradition. He co-authored (with Jenny Green) his autobiography, The Town Grew Up Dancing, published in 2002.