Brushstrokes of Stories and Traditions

Meet Milly. She’s the talented artist who painted these colourful boots in celebration of Hutt St Centre’s 2024 Walk a Mile in My Boots challenge.

A frequent visitor at Hutt St Centre’s Creative Hub, Milly’s passion for painting goes back to her childhood:

“My mum is a good artist, she’s famous. I learnt how to paint from her when I was six-years-old.”

“Art is a way for me to teach about my family traditions, stories, and Luritja language and culture. I paint Uluru, sand hills, and water holes. I also do paintings of bush tucker, women carrying bush tucker, bush medicine, snakes, and lizards.”

Milly has been sleeping rough in the city parklands or occasionally at a friend’s house when she can. She finds support at Hutt St Centre, accessing various services:  

“I love Hutt St. I come for lunch and a hot shower. I can see the nurse if I need to, and sometimes I do my laundry here. I’ve asked Hutt St for warm blankets and jumpers before. And I’ve used the phone charger and computer. I also get help with Centrelink here. The services are helpful and make life easier. And I like going to the Creative Hub to do art.”

Milly takes pride in her artistic creations, completing the boots with bold colours using a dot painting style.

“The yellow is bush tomato with blue flowers. Bush tomatoes are bush tucker and they taste sweet. They grow in Mount Liebig, west of Alice Springs. I grew up there, but I live in Alice Springs now and travel by bus to Adelaide. I love Adelaide.”

“I did the purple dots around the bush tomatoes to make it look pretty. I painted the flag on the boots so that people know I’m Aboriginal and that’s my flag.”

 The generosity of our community empowers people at Hutt St Centre to express themselves and find solace and joy in art, creating a vibrant community of support and creativity.  

“Life would be harder if places like Hutt St didn’t exist. Thank you to people who fundraise for Hutt St Centre. Thank you to people that care.”

We extend our gratitude to Milly for sharing her story and artistic skills in celebration of our Walk a Milers and the life-changing impact you have on people's lives.