Mary Kemarre Morton
One of our great elder women from Utopia, Kwementyaye Morton died this morning – 7 July 2016. She was born in 1925 on MacDonald Downs into the Alyawarr tribe and as one of the senior women on Utopia she had responsibility for initiating young women. She was involved in painting body designs on young women, sung Awely songs to encourage their fertility and teaching them the rules of life. Her country was on the northern end of Utopia and she had custodial responsibility for the Kurrajong tree seed. She was married to Billy Morton (deceased), who was a renowned sculptor. She was passionately involved in maintaining traditional practices for her people and was known as one of the foremost bush medicine women in this area. We extend our sympathy to her family many of whom are highly regarded artists.