Maudie Naylon Akawiljika was born in the Kalamurina area of the Simpson Desert, South Australia, and is a relation of Mick McLean Irinjili (q.v.). Akawiljika and her husband Bob Milkili knew a great deal of Wangkangurru/Wangganguru traditional knowledge relating to the desert.
'Despite her exceptional traditional knowledge and the fact that among Wangkangurru and related groups women shared in practically all ceremonies, anthropologists never asked' Akawiljika '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.'
Source: The Australian Women's Register website http://www.womenaustralia.info/index.html (Sighted: 06/01/2011)