Milatjari was born in 1928, in the bush in north-western South Australia. She was born at Amuroona, on a cattle station between what are now the communities of Indulkana and Mimili. When she was a young girl, her family encountered stockmen at a waterhole called Victory Well. The family then moved to settle and work at the station, then called Everard Park. Milatjari's father was Nyapi "King" Everard and her mother was Mantjangka Everard (Everard was the surname given to them). Milatjari met her husband Sam Pumani in Mimili, and they had five children together: Ngupulya, Betty, Ken, Michael and Lewey.