Yunupingu Death shocked many people as he died in his homelands after battling for the rights of his Gumatj clan, his nation, and other Aboriginals.
Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu AC, popularly known as Doctor Yunupingu, was an Australian musician and educator. He was born Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu; his skin name was Gudjuk.
The National Australia Day Council named Yunupingu Aussie of the Year in 1992. He was one of six Indigenous Australians who gave the Boyer Lectures “Voices of the Land” for the International Year of Indigenous Peoples in 1993. (IYWIP).
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Yothu Yindi is an Australian musical group comprising Aboriginal and balanda members, created in 1986 as a merging of two bands formed in 1985: the Swamp Jockeys, a white rock band, and an unidentified Aboriginal folk group consisting of Mandawuy Yunupingu, Witiyana Marika, and Milkayngu Mununggur.
Yunupingu Dies At 74: What Happened To Him?
Yunupingu, a respected Yolu elder, died in his homelands after battling for the rights of his Gumatj clan, his nation, and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for a lifetime. He was 74.
“Yunupingu was a maestro of ceremonies and a guardian of the Yolngu people’s songlines,” according to the Yothu Yindi Foundation. “He possessed the country’s deep backbone names and the holy wisdom of his people.”
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“He embarks on his trip today to be reunited with his dad and relatives, who await him in the sacred Gumatj region.”
He was raised in North East Arnhem Land’s sacred Yolngu territory, where he was born, and he returns to his ancestors. He was raised following the life cycle, the balance of the land, the water, the holy winds, and the rituals.
Yunupingu had considerable political power, with prime leaders from both parties seeking his counsel over the years, notably Anthony Albanese at last year’s Garma Festival when the route to a referendum on a Voice to Parliament was laid out.
Yunupingu was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Melbourne in 2015 for his “relentless Campaign for land rights and advocacy for the agency of his people.”
Who Is Yunupingu? Yolŋu Leader And Campaigner For Indigenous Rights
Yunupingu was born into the Gumatj clan of the Yolu people at Gunyangara (Marngarr, Ski Beach) in Melville Bay on the Gove peninsula in north-east Arnhem Land into a family of highly skilled Yolu cultural ambassadors and activists.
Yunupingu began campaigning for Yolu land rights alongside his Father, the then Gumatj clan head Mungurrawuy, in the early 1960s.
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As a youngster, he assisted in the creation of the first bark petition, which was brought to the Australian parliament in 1963, calling for land rights and protesting the excision of Yolu territory for bauxite mining in Nhulunbuy (Gove).
The Yirrkala bark petitions were the first traditional Native papers recognized by the federal legislature.
Yunupingu joined the Northern Land Council in 1975 and became its chair in 1977. He was a skilled negotiator in negotiations with mining firms, legislators, and governments to safeguard Aboriginal people’s rights.
In 1978, he was awarded Australian of the Year, and in 1985, he was appointed to the Order of Australia for his contributions to the Aboriginal people.
