Maymuru was a member of the Manggalili people (Yirritji moiety) of Djarrakpi, northeast Arnhem Land. He was a prolific and outstanding bark painter operating in the context of Guwarrk, Marrngu and Nyapililngu clan ancestral designs.He saw art as a way of achieving a wider understanding of Indigenous society among Europeans. In the 1930s and 1940s Maymuru worked for Fred Gray, an English pearler, and Wilbur Chaseling, the missionary who established the Yirrkala mission in 1935. Maymuru and his brother, Nanyin Maymuru, made paintings for sale through the mission.
In the 1950s, Maymuru lived in Darwin and won prizes in the Aboriginal Art category of the Darwin Eisteddfod. In 1963 he travelled with an Aboriginal dance group to perform in the southern states. In that year he also helped paint the bark petition sent to the Commonwealth Parliament which, in part, asked for recognition of Yolngu land rights. In the 1970s Maymuru and some of his relatives began working with the film-maker, Ian Dunlop, to produce a series of films documenting Yolngu life. Maymuru was awarded a Visiting Artistic Fellowship at the Australian National University in 1978.
