Delissa Walker

My name is Delissa Walker Ngadijina. I am a  Kuku Yalanji Master Weaver based in Cairns, Far North Queensland. I grew up in the Daintree rainforest with my mother and in Mosman with my grandmother. I come from a very large culturally active family. Most of my weekends as a child were spent traditionally hunting and gathering food, swimming and basket weaving.

I learnt how to make dilly bags with my late grandmother Wilma Walker from a very young age. I have very fond memories of  traveling with Nana and assisting with weaving demonstrations and classes. She was an inspiration and a very famous weaver.

I now teach weaving locally and have two young daughters Amerie-kay and Eloise who have also learnt to make baskets . They are wonderful helpers and love teaching others how to weave. My son Jiah also helps gather the natural materials in the Daintree and also cleans the fibre for me.

Over the past decade my traditional and contemporary work has been sold into collections of many national galleries around Australia. I also do exhibitions all year round. The highlight of my career was becoming a finalist in 2017 for the ’37th Telsta National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards’.