Ṉoŋgirrŋa Marawili was born on the beach at Darrpirra north of Cape Shield on the oceanside. She was one of the many children of Mundukul the Madarrpa warrior (c.1890-c.1950). Mundukul (Lightning Snake) is also the name of the serpent (also known as Water Python, Burrut’tji), which lives deep beneath the sea here. A revered leader, he had many wives belonging to the Marrakulu, Dhudi Djapu, and Gälpu clans. Ṉoŋgirrŋa’s mother was Buluŋguwuy, one of his four Gälpu wives.

The closely related mothers, brothers and sisters constituted a nomadic working group of more than fifty people, living a disciplined but bountiful existence as they travelled between Groote Eylandt and the mainland in a flotilla of canoes. They went to Yilpara. They went to Djarrakpi. But their special place was Guwaŋarripa (Woodah Island) and their special spot on the mainland was Baratjala, a Madarrpa clan estate adjacent to Cape Shield. These are cyclonic, crocodile infested waters with huge tides and ripping currents.

Ṉoŋgirrŋa won the Bark Painting Award at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2015 and 2019. Her solo exhibition 'From My Heart and Mind’ and its’ accompanying publication in 2018, was followed by her participation in the Biennale of Sydney, in 2020.