Boxer Milner

b. 1934, Matwanangu

Boxer Milner was born in 1934 at Matwanangu, near Sturt Creek.  He is a senior Law man who lives at Milnga-Milnga, also known as Billiluna, which lies south of Halls Creek in Western Australia. Boxer Milner and his two brothers are custodians for this country and the mythologies of the Sturt Creek area, which form the greater part of Milner’s subject matter.

His paintings depict differing physical and mythological aspects of the middle and upper stretches of Sturt Creek, in particular the flooding of the creek when the ‘milk water’ runs after rain has fallen on the clay soils upstream of Billiluna. This is of vital significance to all animals and people who inhabit the area, including Milner’s family who have always lived there, and who continue to ‘look after’ the country by maintaining its associated tribal Laws, regularly performing rituals.

Boxer Milner has exhibited since 1990 and has had two solo shows at Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi (2000) and Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, Sydney (2003).  He is represented in the following collections: the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Kluge Ruhe Collection, Charlottesville, United States of America; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; the Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth; and the Laverty Collection, Sydney.