Grace Rosendale

Grace is a Guugu Yimithirr elder from HopeVale in Far North QLD. Her country is Binthi Warra (between HopeVale and Cape Flattery). Her totem is Gaalaya (centipede) and Wandarr (white cockatoo).

Grace was born in Woorabinda, West of Rockhampton, in 1946 after her family were forcibly moved there during WWII.

Her family returned to HopeVale mission, where her father was a house painter and her mother was a midwife. “At the mission we had rations issued out, because our parents weren’t paid for their work. We weren’t really allowed to do much culture, like corroboree, when Christianity came here. They thought it [culture] was witchcraft. That’s why today I don’t know how to dance!”

Grace came to art later in her life. “After I retired working from the supermarket when I was 65, I was always at home. So I thought I’d join the ladies at the art centre!”