Solomon Cocky

Solomon (Ngalyarrkiny) Cocky was born 1930, in or around the gold mining town of Nullagine and grew up with his father on Noreena Downs Station. At Noreena Downs his father worked as a station hand and Solomon worked with small horses for a year or two before starting work in the mustering team. As a young man he joined the Pilbara Strike, mining for tin and other minerals around Moolyella, Mount Frisco and Blue Bar in the Pilbara region. During the late 1970s he had become part of the everyday working life of Strelley School, founded by the strikers. As one of the elders he taught the children the skills of surviving in the desert, including making spears and fire, while also illustrating school books in Nyangumarta for the Strelley Literature Production Centre. Solomon is remembered as a charismatic and quiet person, who passed away in 1993.