A tribute to Yunupiŋu, a lifelong warrior for Aboriginal rights

A champion of Aboriginal land rights right from the beginning, Yunupiŋu helped draft the historic Yirrkala Bark Petitions at age 16 alongside his father, then Gumatj clan leader Mangurraway. These petitions became the first traditional Aboriginal documents to be recognised by federal parliament. He then came to national attention through his involvement in the Gove Land Rights court case against mining firm Nabalco from 196871, where he served as a court translator for his Elders who lost the case, despite their best efforts.

Yunupiŋu spent more than two decades from 1977 as chairman of the Northern Land Council during a period of great change where he worked to help Aboriginal people take back their land, particularly through negotiations over uranium mining at the edge of Kakadu National Park.

This led to his recognition as Australian of the Year in 1978 and as a member of the Order of Australia in 1985 for his services to the Aboriginal community.

He was also instrumental in helping to create the Barunga Statement, which is still seen as the blueprint for a treaty between Aboriginal people and the Australian government today.

The statement was made up of two paintings and a petition calling for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights of self-determination, land rights, compensation for dispossession, the protection of sacred sites, the return of remains and human rights afforded by international law.

It sought a national, elected Aboriginal body, national land rights, recognition of customary law and the negotiation of a treaty, and was presented to then-prime minister Bob Hawke in June 1988. Yunupiŋu said of the statement at the time:

“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. The notice that we will present to the prime minister now will remind not only Bob Hawke but the next one after him, and the next one after him, and the next one after him, and the next one after him, and we can count that for another 200 years.”

After being presented with the Barunga Statement Hawke made promises about national land rights, but he was ultimately unable to deliver them during his term. His final act as prime minister was to hang the statement on the wall of Old Parliament House to serve as a reminder for future leaders, just as Yunupiŋu had wanted it to be.

Yunupiŋu’s work inspired his younger brother, Mandawuy Yunupiŋu, the lead singer of NT rock band Yothu Yindi, to write the hit song ‘Treaty’ (co-written by Paul Kelly with input from Peter Garrett), which won five ARIA Awards in the early 1990s and drove the national conversation about Treaty – and Indigenous issues in general - into the mainstream Australian dialogue.

“It was released at a time where the Mabo case was in the High Court. It highlighted the whole Indigenous movement,” said Aboriginal singersongwriter Kev Carmody.

With ‘Treaty’ on the airwaves for all Australians to hear and the Barunga Statement hanging on the walls of parliament as a reminder for all future prime ministers, it seemed like the change Yunupiŋu fought so hard for may finally be on the horizon.

But in 2006, frustrated by decades of broken promises, Yunupiŋu demanded the Barunga Statement be returned to Country, saying it had been fundamentally disrespected by the settler-colonial government and should be buried at Barunga to symbolise the buried hopes of a fair and just settlement.

“Sovereignty became treaty, treaty became reconciliation and reconciliation turned into nothing… We will dig a hole and bury it,” he said at the time.

“It will be a protest, but I also hope that it can represent a new start for Aboriginal people.”

Pushing for the rights of his people over so many decades meant that Hawke was the first of many Australian prime ministers to meet with Yunupiŋu, including current PM Anthony Albanese who sat down with him at Garma Festival just last year, when Albanese publicly committed to holding a referendum on constitutional recognition through a Voice to Parliament.

In a joint statement the Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, NT Senator and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy and Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour dedicated the “future success” of the referendum to Yunupiŋu, who was a member of both the Voice to Parliament’s Referendum Working Group and the Indigenous Voice co-design Advisory Group.

“Australia has lost a giant. He worked with more than 10 prime ministers of Australia on the struggle for Indigenous recognition and lived through the many disappointments… His gifts to us as a nation was a life of truth-telling and a passionate belief in his people and in Australia, and we as a nation can gift to him a successful referendum later this year.”

Yunupiŋu’s eldest daughter, Binmila Yunupiŋu, said her father would be remembered for his fierce leadership and strength for Yolŋu and for all Aboriginal people throughout Australia.

“Our father was driven by a vision for the future of this nation, his people’s place in the nation, and the rightful place for Aboriginal people everywhere,” she said.

“Yunupiŋu lived his entire life on his land, surrounded by the sound of bilma (clapsticks), yidaki (didgeridoo) and the manikay (sacred song) and dhulang (sacred designs) of our people. 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.”

The Yothu Yindi Foundation also paid tribute to the life and work of its co-founder and chairman.

“Yunupiŋu was a master of the ceremonies and a keeper of the songlines of the Yolŋu people. He held the deep backbone names of the country and the sacred knowledge of his people. His totems were fire, rock and baru (saltwater crocodile) and his name means the sacred rock that stands against time…

“A pioneer of the land rights movement and Aboriginal rights more broadly, he spoke for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when they were voiceless, working with leaders from throughout the country to return Indigenous people to their rightful place.”

Among many other things, Yunupiŋu will also be remembered as one of the National Trust of Australia’s ‘National Living Treasures’ (1998), the co-founder of Garma Festival with brother Dr M Yunupiŋu (1999), founder and inaugural chairman of the Gumatj Corporation, a singer, a painter and a force of the Aboriginal community.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers please be advised: Yunupiŋu’s last name and images are used here with permission in accordance with the wishes of Yunupiŋu’s family.