The Australian Women's Register

Maudie Naylon Akawiljika, of Wangkangurru and Arrernte descent, was born in the Simpson Desert in c1885. Despite her exceptional traditional knowledge and the fact that among Wangkangurru and related groups women shared in practically all ceremonies, anthropologists never asked her for information – only men were asked to sing or relate traditional matters.

Although her main language was Wangkangurru, she also had a command of Yarluyandi, Lanima, Ngamini and Jauraworka. With her death in Birdsville in 1980, Ngamini became extinct and Yarluyandi lost its last fluent speaker.