UNCLE JIMMY JAMES

Legendary Pitjantjatjara tracker Jimmy James died in 1991 after a long and distinguished life. A recently published book, Lost and Found: The life of Jimmy James Black Tracker by Robert Holmes, tells the story of this remarkable individual. The old people used to say, "Uncle Jimmy can track a fish underwater."

In 1981, John Stokes and Kevin (Dookie) O'Loughlin traveled to the Gerard Mission in the Riverlands of South Australia to invite Uncle Jimmy to the Aboriginal Community College to demonstrate his skills for the students. From this meeting until his death (and especially in the years 1981-'84 and 1987) Uncle Jimmy and John remained close friends, traveling together all around the state of South Australia. Jimmy introduced John to many traditional arts, including tracking, hunting and the making/throwing of boomerangs.

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