"In the early days when the drovers were passing, Miriam's grandpop and grandma as well as her mother and uncle (when they were little ones) all used to stay here. They would run away up the hill, hiding from the white people because they were frightened. They felt safe up the hill at their camp." - Miriam Atkins

This painting portrays physical elements of Martu Country around The Canning Stock Route. The Canning Stock Route is the longest historic stock route in the world, running almost 2000 kilometres across Western Australia, from Halls Creek to Wiluna. It is a place where Indigenous and non-Indigenous histories intersect. Following the construction of the Canning Stock Route in 1910, Martu increasingly encountered Europeans and other Martu working as cattle drovers as they would travel up and down the Stock Route from water source to water source. The founding of the stock route saw a mass exodus from the desert as Martu walked onto cattle stations and missions.

Martumili Artists was established in late 2006 and supports Martu artists in Kunawarritji, Punmu, Parnngurr, Jigalong, Warralong, Irrungadji (Nullagine) and Parnpajinya (Newman). Many Martu artists have close relationships with established artists amongst Yulparija, Kukatja and other Western Desert peoples and are now gaining recognition in their own right for their diverse, energetic and unmediated painting styles. Their works reflect the dramatic geography and scale of their homelands in the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia. Martumili Artists represents speakers of Manyjilyjarra, Warnman, Kartujarra, Putijarra and Martu Wangka languages, many of whom experienced first contact with Europeans in the 1960s. The artists include painters, working in acrylics and oils, as well as weavers coiling baskets and sculptors working in wood, grass and wool. Martu artists proudly maintain their creative practices whilst pursuing social and cultural obligations across the Martu homelands.