Wanurr Bob Namundja was born in western Arnhem Land to the Kardbam clan in 1933. He spoke Kunwinjku which is part of the Bininj Kunwok language group.
During the 1960s, he lived on the Oenpelli Mission in what is now known as Gunbalanya in the Northern Territory of Australia. With the rise of the outstation movement, he split time in the 1970s between Gunbalanya and the small community of Makorlod. By the mid-1980s, he had returned to Gunbalayana with his wife Dianne and his four children to work as a police tracker.
He was the older brother of Don Nakadilinj Namundja, who also became an artist.
Wanurr spent many years traveling throughout Australia, participating in cultural ceremonies and maintaining his relationships with his extended family. Specifically, he had known social affiliations with the Yirritja moiety and Nawakadj subsection.
Outside of being an artist and a family man, he also worked in law enforcement and as a stock-man in Central Arnhem Land.