Robinya was born and raised in Ntaria (Hermannsburg), her father was a Rubuntja from Mt Hay (Urre), and her mother was an Ungkwanaka from Running Water (Irremangkere). She married a Robinya, and her children claim as their father’s Country, Paddy’s Well, north of 20 Mile Waterhole on Napperby Station. Robinya has fond recollections of sewing and playing sport at the Lutheran Mission of Hermannsburg, but admits she eloped at only sixteen with her husband, and never looked back!
An artist and seed jeweler of many years standing, Robinya hot-wires and paints traditional patterns onto gum nuts, which she threads together with the Innernte (Batwing Coral) and other seeds she collects during winter. Robinya’s paintings have always been highly considered and are labor intensive, and generally distinguished by her, balanced colour schemes and symmetrical compositions.
More recently, Robinya’s figurative paintings, detail important locations and events in her life: her childhood at Hermannsburg Mission and surrounding Ntaria region, or visits to her beloved Running Waters. She also records details of station life at Napperby Station, where she and her husband worked as a domestic, and ringer respectively, while raising their family. A frequent return visitor to Laramba Aboriginal Community now established on Napperby Staon, Robinya also documents exciting football and softball carnivals in which her grandsons and granddaughters feature, playing for the winning Anmatyerr teams. These and other works detail life in the remote Aboriginal communities in which Robinya has lived throughout her life.
