Artist Gordon Ingkatji began painting in his later life, and uses art to tell the stories of his family and his country. Ingkatji is one of the artists from the Ernabella Art Centre, South Australia. He had also made a significant contribution to the teaching and publication of the Pitjantjatjara language. Ingkatji was awarded an Honorary award of Fellow of the University of South Australia, in recognition of his substantial and continuous support to the University in Indigenous Education.
His family had settled at Ernabella Mission in 1937, and he was one of the first children to attend the mission school which opened in 1940. Due to injuries suffered as a young man, he was limited in obtaining work in sheep and industrial activities, and was taught to type and worked in the office and store. Ingkatji also was involved in teaching language to staff, in translation work, and was involved in the production of Pitjantjatjara language literature. This led to him being employed as a teacher at the University of Adelaide in 1968, when Pitjantjatjara Language Summer Schools commenced. He was also involved in the teaching and course preparation when the Pitjantjatjara language courses were introduced at Torrens College of Advanced Education in the 1970s. (Source: The Advertiser, 18 April 2015:21; Mr Gordon Ingaktji Citation for Fellow of the University of South Australia)
