Ningie was born in the Pippar/Kiwirrkurra area about 1937. Her mother and father died when she was very young. When her family group was camped at Lirrwati close to Balgo, she came to live at the Balgo Mission at the invitation of Aboriginal people living there. Like many people at that time, Ningie returned to her own country before settling more permanently at the old mission, first at Tjalyiwarn, then at its present site at Wirrimanu from 1962. As a young girl Ningie tended the mission goats, gathering bush food for them to eat. She married and had four children. After her first husband passed away, she married Tjumpo Tjapanangka, another important Balgo artist, and had a further five children
