The Australian Women's Register

Fiona Bates is the second daughter of Muriel Riley and lives at Broken Hill, New South Wales. As a child she lived for some time with her uncle, accomplished artist Badger Bates. Accompanying him on field trips, she learned about the Aboriginal way of living, Aboriginal stories, and how to express the meaning of those stories through art. Fiona’s own style of art encompasses sketching with lead pencil, watercolours, pastels, charcoals, acrylic paints and ochre, as well as lino cuts.

In 2008, Fiona won first prize in the open section of the Far Western Emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Prize for her sketch of a canoe tree that was carved by her own great-grandmother.

Fiona has three children. She is a member of the Broken Hill Aboriginal Justice Group and works as a tour guide, informed by a detailed knowledge of the Aboriginal art found in and around the Broken Hill region and created by members of up to seven different tribes in far western New South Wales.