Her mother, however, prevented the displacement of her child by reportedly blackening her skin with charcoal, and the young girl grew up working for the stockmen of the cattle station at Texas Downs.

Before they were forced to leave, Aboriginal people were unable to access their ancestral lands where the station was and Mckenzie went to the State Parliament in Perth to fight for this right ([6]).

McKenzie lived her entire life in the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley, knew the landscape intimately, and is quoted as saying: "Every rock, every hill, every water, I know that place backwards and forwards, up and down, inside out.

Mingmarriya references the country near Dingo Springs on Texas Downs Station east of Warmun (Turkey Creek), Western Australia where the artist lived and painted.

Not only did she do landscape paintings, but she also depicted events that affected her community such as Blackfella Massacre which shows an incident between the police and Aboriginal people in 1922 along with “Living with Alcohol” in 1994 ([8]).

She also led a project supported by the Heritage Council of Western Australia to record mythological, historical, and women’s ceremonial sites in the area to keep those stories alive for future generations ([4]).

[10] A painting by McKenzie depicting the Mistake Creek massacre was bought by the National Museum of Australia in 2005, but due to controversy over the facts of the event, part of the History Wars, it had never been hung.

[16] In 1995, she had her first solo exhibition titled Gara-Garag: My Life Longa Texas premiered in Waringarri Aboriginal Arts at William Mora Galleries.

Though she died before witnessing her wishes manifest, McKenzie's importance has been recognised by the government of Western Australia, which declared her as a "State Living Treasure" the year of her death.

[21] McKenzie was included in the Moorditj-Australian Indigenous Cultural Expressions CD-ROM, along with other Western Australian artists Jack Davis, Alma Toomath, Betty Egan, Michele Broun, the Pigram Brothers, Footprince, Wayne Barker, Sally Morgan, Jimmy Chi and Mary Pantjiti McLean.

[needs update] McKenzie was cited as an important influence on the work of the Australian ceramic artist Pippin Drysdale.