Earlier this month, on the eve of International Women’s Day, Armadale’s Lesley Murray was formally inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame for the significant contributions she has made to art in Western Australia and beyond.
According to WA Women’s Hall of Fame Chairperson Fiona Reid, Lesley now joins 300 other trailblazing women “who do not seek applause or accolades, but who go about their daily lives, improving the lives of others, sharing knowledge, giving support, and standing as role models for future generations”.
Lesley is a proud Anaiwan woman from Uralla in rural New South Wales, who has lived in WA for nearly 30 years. During that time, she has dedicated her life to nurturing cultural pride, and emotional well-being through artistic expression. And she has earned her place in the Hall of Fame many times over.
And yet, despite being dressed to the nines, and with a VIP front row seat to the celebrations at Government House, Lesley felt a familiar sense of imposter syndrome creep in.
“I was honoured, but I also felt a bit intimidated. I questioned whether I deserved this,” she said.
Self-doubt plagued Lesley early on in life. But through art she found inner strength.
“I was awkward at school; I wore glasses, and I was a chubby girl so I was teased a lot, and you can imagine the effects that has on your self-esteem,” she said.
“I wasn’t good at sport, and I wasn’t academic. But art I could excel in, and I could compete with all the other kids at school.
“I knew that was going to be my way in life – to engage with art and be creative.”
Art was also a way for Lesley to explore and defiantly celebrate her Aboriginality.
“Being fair-skinned, that was always questioned. But that’s just part of the story of what happened to my people through colonisation. We call that lateral violence. But I tell you, my Aboriginality is strong,” she said.
“I paint and I can’t escape it. I hear my ancestors say ‘Dolly – that’s where you should be. You need to be with your art and your people’.”
But in order to truly pursue her art, she decided she first needed to leave everything she knew behind.
“I left my hometown Uralla to go to university because I wanted to get a degree in art. I wanted to honour my grandparents by being the first in my family to go to university.”
She created one of her more enduring artworks – Black Soldier – during her time as a student in Tasmania.
“I created that back in 1994 as a way to honour my grandfather, William Murray (who was promoted to Lance Corporal) and to deal with my grief when he died,” she said.
“And I wanted to make a political statement. Back then, there wasn’t a lot known about the Aboriginal people who fought in the wars Australia was involved in.”
The linocut prints of that series are now held in collections of state art galleries all over the country, and in the Australian War Memorial, and are consistently reproduced in art journals.
Lesley completed her degree over ten years, and across three states, in between birthing and raising four children.
After she graduated from Edith Cowan University, she scored a job which allowed her to use her art to help other Indigenous families find success – with the Best Start initiative, which was created from the recommendations to come out of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
As a Program Coordinator for Best Start Armadale, she helped prepare Aboriginal children (and families) for school, while honouring cultural heritage.
“I would make my programs very interactive. I knew the way to engage was through art – to be creative,” she said.
“And we had some amazing success; many of the kids went on to graduate from high school, and many of the mums found employment.
“One mum received an award after starting up a dance group. When I saw her, she said ‘this dance group exists because of what you did for us at Best Start’. And her dance group is still going.
“Another mum went on to become an Aboriginal Education Officer after her time with us at Best Start.”
During this time, she also worked alongside several local primary schools with the Aboriginal Speakers in Schools program and created collaborative murals, some of which still exist today.
Lesley spent around a decade dedicating her efforts to Best Start, eventually rising to a senior position where she led other program coordinators from all over the state.
“But in 2014 I took a leap of faith. I saw this job advertised to be an Aboriginal Project Manager for the Act, Belong, Commit campaign, and I thought ‘why not? Give it a go’,” she said.
“I put my hat in the ring and got it.”
Lesley was the first Aboriginal Program Manager for the Mentally Healthy WA campaign up in Roebourne.
“I worked strongly with the elders and the community of Roebourne to develop their very first Aboriginal mentally healthy message,” she said.
“I engaged my art ability to create a lot of things like ‘healing out on country’ to help with suicide and tragic loss, and ‘paint your connection to country’.
“That’s what my own art is all about; piecing together my culture and connecting to country no matter where I am.”
She ran that program for four years.
“When the funding ran out, the elders wanted me to stay so I started an art group. I ran Roebourne Art Group from 2018 to early 2020,” she said.
After her time in the Pilbara, Lesley started to build an initiative in rural NSW which created awareness about middle ear disease.
But then COVID hit, and her own health took a huge turn. On Christmas Day, back in Perth, Lesley suffered a massive stroke which put her in hospital.
“I was gonna give up and let go of life. I was getting my affairs in order,” she said.
But something inside of her told her ‘not yet’.
“I thought: I haven’t created enough art. I haven’t done the art that I want to. I haven’t taught or engaged enough people with art. And I wanted to make more of an impact on the Aboriginal community and my community with art,” she said.
Her need to help others saved her own life.
“One of the messages in the Act, Belong, Commit campaign is to have a purpose in life. It helps you tie yourself to life. And art is my purpose in life (so are my children and grandchildren). But art is powerful in that regard, and it can make such an impact on people’s life,” she said.
“That stroke deadened my thalamus, which regulates your cerebral cortex, and your emotions.
“So, my mental health is now managed by antidepressants, counselling, and art.
“For years art has been seen as just a hobby – no more value in it than that. But it’s been proven now that art is so good for your mental health and wellbeing. And I’m testament to that.”
After she recovered, Aunty Helen Skiadas reached out to ask Lesley to lead an art group alongside other Indigenous artists with Beananging Kwuurt Institute (BKI) at the old Sister Kate’s Children’s Home.
“Creating art there together at Sister Kate’s is part of the healing process for a lot of us, on land that was used for the stolen generation,” she said.
Lesley was one of two WA artists to be awarded the 2023-24 Creative Australia Arts and Disability grant, which she used to run the art program at BKI.
“A lot of the people at BKI were very hesitant at first to even try to paint or do anything creative, because they were always told they couldn’t, and they always thought it had to be perfect – like the old masters,” she said.
“But nothing is wrong in art – it’s all about mark making. It’s about the journey and expression and how it makes your heart and mind feel.
“It’s important to get into the minds of children – just do, just make marks for play.
“That’s what I’m doing, I just play, but I’m also telling a story through my ancestors.”
It was Aunty Helen who nominated Lesley for the WA Women’s Hall of Fame.
“She saw my value and said, ‘Lesley it’s about time you’re acknowledged’,” she said.
And the selection panel clearly thought so too. Lesley found out in February she’d been successful, but was sworn to secrecy.
“It’s very hard to keep a secret, especially when you’ve had a stroke,” she said.
“I was very honoured, but I wasn’t going to do it without my four children with me, and their grandmother.”
Flanked by her children, who still had no idea why they were at Government House, Lesley’s enormous but often hidden contribution to art and community was out on show for all to see.
“We were all crying – even my son who never cries had tears in his eyes,” she said.
“On that night there were four Noongar women and two from other Indigenous nations inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. We owned that space,” she said.
“I felt deeply honoured and inspired to be surrounded by so many incredible women.
“And I realised: you know what, I do deserve this.”
Lesley is currently working towards a solo exhibition at the ZigZag Gallery in Kalamunda called ‘Immersion’ which will open on July 5.
