Clan group: Dingaal
Language group: Guugu Yimithirr
Gertie Deeral was born in Woorabinda, Queensland, in 1944 where her family had been interred during WW II. At the end of the war, she returned to Hope Vale in Cape York, Queensland, where she now lives and works.
Gertie has only recently begun to paint, and her first exhibition was at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair in 2017. She is an active member of the HopeVale Arts and Cultural Centre and a member of the Gamba Gamba (senior women group) at the art centre. Her paintings explore themes of Woorabinda settlement history, and of the Hope Vale Mission. As a senior Elder, Gertie is passionate about recording language and traditional stories to preserve and hand down to future generations.
She is represented by the HopeVale Arts & Cultural Centre, Queensland.
FNQ Contemporaries 2022
29 Jan – 6 Mar 2022
View exhibition
Women Painting Country
16 Oct – 14 Dec 2021
View exhibition
ARTNOW 2019
13 Dec 2019 – 2 Feb 2020
View exhibition
The Cairns Art Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, names or voices of deceased persons in photographs, film or text.