Yunupingu

One of Australia's most influential Aboriginal leaders, the trailblazing land rights fighter Yunupingu, has died in the Northern Territory aged 74.

"A giant of the nation whose contribution to public life spanned seven decades, he was first and foremost a leader of his people, whose welfare was his most pressing concern and responsibility. "He starts his journey now to be reunited with his fathers and his kin, who await him in the hearth of his sacred Gumatj country," the foundation said. "He sought this future for his people, and he guided this company to its present state, building on the wealth of his people's land, their knowledge of the land and their willingness to work for a future that is theirs. In 2015, Yunupingu received the University of Melbourne's highest academic honour, an Honorary Doctor of Laws, in recognition of his "relentless struggle for land rights and advocacy for the agency of his people". Yunupingu was also a long-term chairman of the Northern Land Council, which represents traditional owners in the Northern Territory's Top End. The Gumatj clan leader, who passed away in north-east Arnhem Land, was a powerful advocate for the interests of the Yolngu people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country.

Senior Yolngu lore man and Gumatj clan leader Yunupingu has died after a long illness. The keeper of songlines was one of the most influential Indigenous ...

We ask you to mourn his passing in your own way, but we as a family encourage you to rejoice in the gift of his life and leadership. He was born on our land, he lived all his life on our land and he died on our land secure in the knowledge that his life’s work was secure,” she said. That was his sort of humour, but he was also genuinely frustrated with successive prime ministers who had failed to deliver on constitutional recognition and many other matters that had remained unresolved.” “He had friendship and loyalty to so many people, at all levels, from all places. “He was a colossus as a leader. Let us have an honest answer from the Australian people to an honest question.” That case, along with the barks, contributed to the establishment of the Whitlam government’s Woodward royal commission in 1973. Before the decade ended, he also founded the Garma Festival with his brother, Dr M Yunupingu. In 1993, Yunupingu established the Yothu Yindi Foundation alongside other Yolngu leaders from five regional clan groups. In 1975, Yunupingu worked with then-prime minister Malcolm Fraser on what would become the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Three years later, the statement was officially welcomed into Parliament House with an unveiling that included Yunupingu giving a speech alongside Hawke. The official event was Hawke’s last as prime minister.

The revered Elder and leader of the Gumatj clan was a master of the ceremonies and a keeper of the songlines of the Yolngu people.

He held the deep backbone names of the country and the sacred knowledge of his people. There were reductions in services to our communities, the taking away or withholding of the services that had been entrusted by the Commonwealth – by the people of Australia – to the new Northern Territory Government to rightly deliver to us. Rest in peace." "He lived and died in the arms of his family, and they in his arms. Always in our hearts. He was told it was. And that was a lifelong commission.” And when we defended ourselves, when we fought back, they punished us in different ways. In 1978 Yunupingu was recognised for his devotion to Aboriginal rights and given one of the nation’s highest honours - Australian of the Year. With Yolngu leaders, Yunupingu led the revival of the homeland’s movement in the 1970s and the emergence of the land rights movement throughout Australia.” “Yunupingu was a master of ceremonies and a keeper of the song lines of the Yolngu people. He dedicated his life to the land rights movement and improving the lives of his people.

Yunupingu, a Yolngu man and the Gumatj clan leader, was a longtime advocate for Indigenous Australians, pa...

A world designed in perfection, founded on the beautiful simplicity of a mother and her newborn child; as vibrant and as dynamic as the estuary where the saltwaters meet the freshwaters, able to give you everything you need." Just as he saw what was going on around him with great clarity, he was crystalline when he turned his gaze within.In his own words: "My inner life is that of the Yolngu song cycles, the ceremonies, the knowledge, the law and the land. Yunupingu now walks in another place, but he has left such great footsteps for us to follow here in this one. This brought him some comfort, as did his totems of fire and baru, the saltwater crocodile, which watched over him in his final days. As it burns away all that is superfluous and false, it lights the path ahead for us. Member of the Order of Australia. At Garma last year, after I announced the details of the referendum, he asked me, "Are you serious this time?" A remarkable member of a remarkable family .A great Yolngu man. "The loss to our family and community is profound. Australian of the Year in 1978. He lived by our laws always." A dancer.

From a land rights "radical" to a steely elder who had the ear of successive prime ministers, the late northeast Arnhem Land leader, Yunupingu, leaves a ...

Yunupingu's father, Gumatj clan leader Mungurrawuy Yunupingu, urged him to pursue “western” education while also staying strong in Yolngu culture and tradition.

"I am trying to light the fire in our young men and women…We are setting fires to our own lives as we really should, and the flame will burn and intensify … Yothu Yindi won ARIA Awards and took the national conversation to a new level. He played a key role in the creation of the Barunga Statement, which was handed to Prime Minister Bob Hawke in June, 1988. "It will be something to remind any government who will run in its power to change policies and Constitution, that Aboriginal people will always be in front of their policy making and decision making… Hawke was certainly not the last Prime Minister to meet with Yunupingu. He acted as a translator for Elders in the Gove land rights court case against mining company Nabalco.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has led the tributes for the Gumatj clan leader, remembering him as a man who "walked in two worlds with authority, ...

"He was in the frontline of the fight for land rights. "He was … "Governments and everyone opposed us all the way. "Yunupingu will always have a special place in the heart of the Northern Land Council. As it burns away all that is superfluous and false, it lights the path ahead for us," he said. This brought him some comfort, as did his totems of fire and baru, the saltwater crocodile, which watched over him in his final days."

One of Australia's best-known Indigenous leaders "now walks in another place", PM Anthony Albanese says.

He was born on our land… Yunupingu rose to prominence in the land rights movement in the 1960s, and was part of the first Australian legal case which tested the native title rights of First Nations people. Yunupingu was a trailblazer in the fight for land rights and the constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in Australia.