AustLit

The eldest of the Mowanjum artists, Pudja Barunga is a highly respected Wunambul elder and one of the few Wunambul people living in the Mowanjum community near Derby in Western Australia. She has maintained her language and singing the Djunba (corroboree). Barunga was raised in Bungangaree and the Kunmunya Presbyterian Mission. When the Second World War began, Barunga's education was put on hold.

On 28 March 1977 Pudja and Albert Barunga (husband) met with Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at a reception on board H.M. Yatch 'Britannia' at Fremantle. 'When Pudja talks about this occasion she laughs: The Queen was a little woman. She thought I was a Zulu. We had very little cups for our tea.' Barunga has been wardrobe mistress for the Mowanjum Dance Group and she has also been part of the Mowanjum Heritage database team since 1994. Mowanjum 50 Years: Community History (2008)