Miliwanga Sandy Wurrben has travelled around Australia and the world. She has represented her Indigenous people on the world stage and reconnected Aboriginal people around the country with their cultural roots.

"Spirituality, everyone has that, every step from the beginning, even though some people have lost that."

The Rembarrnga woman was born in 1958 near Barunga "in the bush" 82km from Katherine. She was raised in Arnhem land by her people's traditional ways with 12 siblings.

"I grew up just knowing our traditional education system that we had," she said.

"We only spoke our language, not English, not even Kriol."

Miliwanga's position today as chairwoman of Mimi Art and Craft has its beginnings in the ancient knowledge and traditional art passed down by the women in her family.

"I started off as a weaver... we used to make baskets, mats," she said.

"Me and my mum we worked as a team... [I learnt] from my mum, from my grandmother, from my aunties, from my older sisters.

"I was taught from a very early age."

The knowledge never left her, even being interviewed for this story in a local cafe she pointed out a bush-lemon hanging from a nearby tree. She remembers its sweet taste from her childhood.

In the era of Stolen Generations, Miliwanga counts herself lucky to have remained with her family through her entire childhood.

While she remembers the racism of the era she also fondly recalls her "white family" led by the headmaster of the local school.

"What was so amazing is I ended up having both families... every Christmas [the headmaster] would tell my mum and dad 'I am going to take her with us for Christmas'," she said with a laugh.

Miliwanga said her white family helped her learn how to be a proud Aboriginal woman in modern Australia.

"They helped me to understand western culture... I could understand the system of white culture."

By learning this balance Miliwanga has remained connected to the traditional Rembarrnga culture she learnt as a child, while navigating the ongoing discrimination and mountainous challenges faced by many First Australians.

Tragedy has still come to Miliwanga's life, losing one infant child to sickness and another older son to substance abuse and mental health challenges.

"There's too much drinking and taking new foreign stuff that kills people.

"I lost my son over that, my son committed suicide."

She said without the connection to her traditional ways, her tragedies may have sent her down the wrong path too. Fortunately for her daughters and grandchildren she has been able to carry on.

Miliwanga has also taken it upon herself to help sustain Indigenous people around Australia, reconnecting them to their country and bringing the old ways back to the surface.

She has travelled as far as Perth and Sydney, taking traditional healing with her.

"I go down there, I teach them my knowledge from up here about culture," she said.

"So many of these Indigenous people who have lost their culture... it's vital to teach them the values... I must do this to make people understand."

Her work domestically has attracted attention overseas and she has been invited to run cultural workshops in the Americas in front of traditional healers from Tibet, Mexico and a range of other nations.

At one event in Black Hill, Texas, Miliwanga was the only Indigenous Australian woman in a crowd of people from around the world.

"I was honoured... they came from everywhere... it was wonderful I could connect to them spiritually."

Miliwanga's leadership is also felt at home in the Katherine region.

She performed a smoking ceremony when new art was installed at Katherine Hospital in 2019, and her leadership in traditional ceremonies is a regular sight in Katherine.

Miliwanga said her involvement in smoking the maternity ward was particularly special, as she thought of the baby son she lost.

"It was very, very special for me... there were spirits still around and they had to be put to rest.

"We do this to send them home."

Even though she is approaching her mid-60s, Miliwanga is not slowing down or retiring.

Her travels have been suspended for now due to the pandemic, but she plans to travel to Indonesia as soon as possible. She plans to meet the descendants of the Makassar fisherman who sailed to Arnhem land and visited Indigenous Australians centuries ago.

Still full of energy, Miliwanga plans to go back and collect the bush-lemon hanging in the cafe later on Friday afternoon.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

You can also receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday at 6am from the Katherine Times. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.