Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

Let me first state that Dr Yunupingu was a good mate of mine, someone I knew since the late 1970s and early 1980s, someone for whom I had the greatest respect and admiration for a whole lot of reasons. If you examine his life course as an adult you are left with no doubt as to the contribution he made to Yolngu life in north-east Arnhem Land, and to the recognition of Yolngu culture not only nationally but also globally through his music.

One of the key components of his life was his lifelong commitment to education, which began in the seventies. He gained a teaching certificate after starting his formal teaching career at Yirrkala Community School in 1978. He gained a Bachelor of Arts (Education) at Deakin University in 1987. He was the first Yolngu person, the first Aboriginal person in north-east Arnhem Land, to graduate from university. At the time this must have been some challenge because he was also very active musically. This degree led to his appointment as assistant principal at the Yirrkala school. Working with others in the field, he instituted a two-way learning curriculum at the school. That was something I became fully aware of during my time as a teacher in the Northern Territory and subsequently by the commitment that was shown by so many others in advocating for it and participating in it. It gave Yirrkala School a unique feeling to see two-way education being practised in the school, with Yolngu language, Yolngu culture as well as mainstream English and all the attendant curriculum issues that are required for our kids at school.

This two-way learning was ensuring optimal learning through Yolngu and balanda education modalities, balanda being non-Aboriginal persons. This approach reflected what Dr Yunupingu was achieving through his, by now, nationally and internationally renowned and recognised music. Dr Yunupingu's work and quality as an educator was further recognised in 1990 when he moved from assistant principal to school principal at Yirrkala School. His contribution to education was one of the areas of achievement that led to him being named Australian of the Year in 1992. Given the prominence he earned as a musician, this commitment to education had meaning for him and it was reflected in his attitude to his work and later in his music. His subsequent advocacy for renal disease is a testament to him.

This award of Australian of the Year continued a strong family tradition of social, political and cultural contribution to the Australian identity. Significantly, his father was a signatory of the bark petition, presented to the federal parliament in 1963. This year is the 50th anniversary of the presentation of the petition and that is a very important occasion. It was this petition that led to the historic Gove land rights case and ultimately to the implementation, through other issues, of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. His brother Galarrwuy had been previously recognised as Australian of the Year in 1978. It is a unique thing to have two brothers from the same Yolngu family in north-east Arnhem Land recognised as Australians of the Year and it is a magnificent tribute to them as individuals and also to their community and to their families. Dr Yunupingu's commitment to two-way cultural learning was at the basis of Yothu Yindi, established by him and other cultural leaders from the clans of the region.

Dr Yunupingu chaired the reference group of the National Review of Education for Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. This important review, conducted in 1995 and 1996, benefited greatly from Dr Yunupingu's long-term and continuing commitment to education. This commitment was recognised in 1998 by the Queensland University of Technology when he was awarded an honorary doctorate of the university in recognition of his significant contribution to the education of Aboriginal children and to a greater understanding between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.

He was truly a man before his time in terms of advocacy of reconciliation through both education and music. Yothu Yindi was a vehicle for advancing reconciliation and for promoting the worth of Yolngu knowledge and culture. Yothu Yindi translates to 'child and mother'. It was founded in 1986 by Dr Yunupingu, along with others. It combined Western rock'n'roll with traditional song cycles and instrumentation from north-east Arnhem Land.

Their first album Homeland Movement was recorded in 1988. The significance of the homeland is not lost on us and should not be lost on us because that is what outstation living and homeland living is all about. There was a great commitment by Yolngu people in north-east Arnhem Land to not only look after their homeland but live on their homelands. That continues to this very day. It is one of the reasons this government is proposing to build a boarding facility for schools at one of those homelands, Garrthalala in north-east Arnhem Land.

The Homeland Movement album was recorded in one day and they secured a contract with Mushroom Records. They began touring in 1989 to Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, the Edinburgh Festival, Australia, New Zealand and the European Folk Festival in Glasgow. They released Tribal Voice in 1991 with hit singles Treaty and Djapana. Treaty spent 22 weeks in the national charts and was voted APRA Song of the Year in 1991. Treaty, as we know, was a plea for reconciliation with a potently political message.

They won the Human Rights Commission award for song writing. In 1992 they won the ARIA award for best Australian song and best Australian single. The film clip by Steve Johnson won best Australian video at both the Australian Music Awards and MTV International Awards in Los Angeles. In 1992 the band spent much time touring Australia, North America, and Europe, winning rave reviews wherever they played.

Dr Yunupingu won Australian of the Year for his commitment to forging greater understanding between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, the Yolgnu and the Balanda. In the ARIA awards for 1993, Djapana won numerous awards. In that same year, Yothu Yindi joined with the National Drug Offensive to launch a campaign encouraging the sensible use of alcohol in both Yolgnu and Balanda societies.

The third album, Freedom, had three singles: World Turning, Timeless Land and Dots on the Shells. Extensive touring followed to Japan, Europe, USA, Brazil and Australia. Other albums followed including Wild Honey, One Blood and Garma. They had the great honour of performing at the Sydney Olympics and Paralympics in 2000.

Late in his life, however, Dr Yunupingu suffered from an all-too-prevalent kidney disease in Aboriginal communities across this country—that is, he contracted kidney disease and ultimately was required to be dialysed. Despite being very ill for a number of years, he was active is securing dialysis back to Nhulunbuy and returned there from Darwin so he could live at home and ultimately, sadly, die there.

He also secured, with my support and with funding from this government, an important kidney disease workshop—only a month or so prior to his death—where Yolngu leaders including himself were able to discuss how to assist their people to fight the dreadful scourge of renal failure. He was there during the course of the whole day that I was present at this conference. He showed a great interest in what could be done to address the issues to do with renal failure and its attendant diseases, the issues of prevention in particular and how to get people healthy so they do not get renal failure in the first place.

He was most concerned about so many of his countrymen and women suffering from kidney disease and being treated so far from their homes, often to die there. It is so sad that there are so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around this country who contract this disease, which is so prevalent particularly in remote parts of this great nation of ours that they are required to go and seek treatment in places like Darwin or indeed Alice Springs, Katherine or Tennant Creek in the case of the Northern Territory or Perth in Western Australia or Adelaide in South Australia. It means they leave home, often never to return. That is simply so sad. This was not the case fortunately for Dr Yunupingu. He was able to go home and be dialysed in his home community and subsequently, sadly, die—as we know.

When he returned from Darwin he spent his time eating lots of bush tucker, especially fish roe, and playing with his many grandchildren. He was a very impressive man. He once said to my young daughter, who is a dancer, 'You will have to come and dance with us.' He was such an engaging individual and he had such a prolific commitment to reconciliation, to bringing the two parts of this nation so much closer together. He did this through actions as well as words. Whilst he was not an overtly political person in the sense of being involved in great political campaigns, his campaign for recognition through his music and through education will stand the test of time. Of that, I have absolutely no doubt. I would venture to say that he has done more in that realm, particularly for his people, the Yolngu, from north-east Arnhem Land, than almost any other person. He can rest peacefully knowing that he has had an enormous impact on the lives of so many and will be forever remembered.

My very sincere condolences go to Gurruwun, his wonderful wife, his six daughters, his huge extended family, to all of his mates, whether Yolngu or Balanda, wherever they might be, his partners in the music industry and his long-time friend and manager Alan James. When we pass, there may be a blink and there may be a tear, but this man will be forever remembered. May he rest in peace.

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