Yunupingu, a 74-year-old Yolngu chief of the Gumatj tribe and keeper of the Songlines, passed away on Monday in northeast Arnhem Land following a protracted illness.
The man was born in 1948 to Mungarrawuy and Makurrngu on Ancient Nikolai Island in Melville Bay, Northern Territory, northeast of Arnhem Land. His name means “enduring holy stone.”
He rose to become one of the most well-known and significant Aboriginal leaders of the previous century. He worked to advance Aboriginal rights, particularly land rights, under various governments, most recently emphasizing the need for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The leaders of the country paid him swift honors following his passing, praising his ardor and dedication to his people.
When he was 11 years old and 17, more than 3,500 miles from his ancestral and spiritual home, in Brisbane, Queensland, young Yunupingu, who had never seen a European before his boyhood, enrolled at Yirkala Missionary School.
Yunupingu’s early involvement in the fight for Aboriginal land rights made him famous.
As Yunupingu helped his father Mungarrawuy and uncle Djalalingba draft the Yirrkala Bark petition in 1963, his activities got underway. The Menzies government granted commercial bauxite mining rights to 360 square kilometers of land without consulting traditional Gumatj owners. The petition asserts Aboriginal customary and property rights to this land.
The historic bark is thought to be the first traditional document to be acknowledged by the Federal Parliament. It is surrounded by traditional artwork and contains text in English and Yolngu.
The petitions resulted in legal action in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, despite the fact that they eventually failed to persuade parliament to acknowledge the Yolngu people’s ancestral land rights or put an end to bauxite mining.
It is the first instance in the Commonwealth’s history when Aboriginal people have used native title to dispute a mining corporation lease, and Yunupingu served as the court interpreter in this case.