SONYA, SUZY and SARAH SMITH are a family team of Boandik weavers/artists with familial ties to SE South Australia. They are part of the award-winning community and cultural development project Ngarrindjeri Yanun in Murray Bridge and continue to teach their Aboriginal culture and history through the Aboriginal Artist In Schools Program in the South East, known as the Boandik Constellation – their country. Weaving connects them to their ancestors, country, and their culture.
Sonya Smith is a Boandik/Moandik woman with family connections to the Ngarkat and Potaruwutj from the South East of South Australia and the Wotjabaluk in Victoria. She was born in Mount Isa, Queensland in 1977 on Kalkadoon country. Her parents both from the South East of South Australia are Judith Smith (Hartman) a Boandik/Moandik woman and Ronald Smith a non-indigenous man (both deceased). Currently living in Murray Bridge on Ngarrindjeri country with her daughter. She attended Murray Bridge High School where she began to learn silk painting which lead her to learn more about her and her families cultural identity and there connection to country. As a young adult she was involved with the revival and learning her Bunganditj Language. She was taught Basket Weaving from her mum’s twin sister Aunty Bub (Janice Rigney) who was taught by her grandmother Dorothy Gibson. She loves to keep her culture alive by passing on these traditions to her daughter, family and community.
Suzy Smith is a Moandik/Boandik woman with family connections to Ngarkat and Potaruwutj also from the South East of South Australia and Wotjobaluk in Victoria. She was born in Mount Isa Queensland in 1968 on Kalkadoon country. Her parents both from the South East of South Australia are Judith Smith (Hartman) a Boandik/Moandik woman and Ronald Smith a non-indigenous man (both deceased). Currently living in Murray Bridge on Ngarrindjeri country with her 4 children and 16 grandchildren. She was taught Basket Weaving from her mum’s twin sister Aunty Bub (Janice Rigney) who was taught by her grandmother Dorothy Gibson. She has also been part of the revival and learning of her Bunganditj Language to which she enjoys passing on these traditions to her family and community.
Sarah Smith is a Boandik, Ngarrindjeri and Kokatha woman. She was born in Mount Isa, Queensland in 1995 on Kalkadoon country. Her parents are Sonya Smith a Boandik woman from the South East of South Australia. Her father Joshua Sumner is a Ngarrindjeri and Kokatha man from South Australia. Currently living in Murray Bridge on Ngarrindjeri country with her mother and surrounded by her big family. She was taught how to basket weave by her mother in 2016. She has also taken interest in acrylic painting on canvas plus other arts and crafts as she grew up seeing her mum being an Artist. She has also taken on some study to revive and learn her Bunganditj Language by completing Cert 3 In Learning an Endangered Aboriginal Language and looks forward to go on to Cert 4 to then being able to teach it in schools. She has always been passionate about working with children and enjoys having the opportunity to teach Aboriginal Cultural arts in schools on her Boandik country.
