David Mowaljarlai (deceased), a Ngarinyin Elder, was born at Kunmunya on the remote Kimberley coast of north west Australia. He was a member of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), and the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee of the West Australian Museum. Mowaljarlai was Aboriginal of the Year in 1991, and he was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1993.