Before he began painting, Donegan worked as a stockman. He was also a hunter and a craftsman well known for making traditional hunting tools (spears, spear-throwers and boomerangs). During the early 1970s, Donegan helped to set up outstations in the south-western Pitjantjatjara lands. His wife was born near Puta Puta, a place close to Kalka in what is now the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. The couple and their children originally lived there, but they later moved to Papulankutja, closer to Jimmy's own homeland.