Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Yolngu people have lost a great elder, and Australia has lost one of its greatest leaders of the past century, Yunupingu. His totems were fire, rock and Baru, the saltwater crocodile. His name means 'the sacred rock that stands against time'. His accomplishments and his examples of leadership are timeless. He was a skilled mediator between Indigenous and non-Indigenous structures of power. He was a thoughtful custodian of culture.

Yunupingu's activism began early in life. In 1963, as a teenager, he helped create the first Yirrkala bark petition, calling on this parliament to recognise Yolngu land rights and protesting against the proposed bauxite mine near Nhulunbuy. An edition of that petition, a piece of art, is displayed not far from here in the Members Hall, recognised as one of the foundational documents of the land rights movement. This bark petition represents the first time that a document describing Indigenous ways of representing connections to country was acknowledged by parliament.

Yunupingu would go on to devote his life to the building of understanding, goodwill and respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia and using art and music and culture to do that. That was a real focus of his efforts. As Special Envoy for the Arts, I want to draw attention to some of those things that he did. Yunupingu understood the power of music as a force for social change. In 1971, he recorded 'Gurindji Blues' with Ted Egan and Vincent Lingiari, the legendary land rights activist who led the Wave Hill walk-off in 1966. That song brought the Gurindji struggle for land rights to the ears of Australians in the southern states and brought national attention to their cause. It no doubt contributed to the ultimate return of the Gurindji traditional lands in 1975.

Yunupingu lent his voice and guitar skill to several recordings by Yothu Yindi, whose music has amplified calls for recognition and treaty for three decades. He helped to establish the Garma Festival. This celebration of First Nations arts, song, dance, storytelling and ideas has become a vital institution in our cultural life. He chaired the Yothu Yindi Foundation and saw it become an extraordinary force for good. The foundation's Garma Institute provides education facilities on country in north-east Arnhem Land and put Yolngu culture at the core of its curriculum.

It was in Arnhem Land at Garma that I first heard Yunupingu speak in person. It was 2009, and he and Jenny Macklin, who was the then Indigenous affairs minister, opened the Garma Festival, which was focused on the creative industries. I think if Yunupingu had contributed to nothing other than Garma it would be an extraordinary legacy. We heard the member for Solomon talk about his experience of Garma, which is something that nearly every non-Indigenous person I've ever spoken to who has been to it says is transformational in the way that it helps you think about our First Nations peoples and the culture and connection to land that they have. It was certainly that for me.

Yunupingu was a powerful advocate for a voice to parliament. Not only was he there from the beginning; he set things in motion at multiple points along his life, including, most recently, as a member of the Referendum Council established in 2015, which led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017. He was a member of the senior advisory group that developed the Voice proposal for this parliament. He knew that, when First Nations peoples are involved in decision-making processes that affect them, better outcomes for those people will come about.

Yunupingu argued with great clarity and eloquence about the need for Australia to respect and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on their own terms. In 2016 he wrote:

What Aboriginal people ask is that the modern world now makes the sacrifices necessary to give us a real future. To relax its grip on us. To let us breathe, to let us be free of the determined control exerted on us to make us like you. And you should take that a step further and recognise us for who we are, and not who you want us to be. Let us be who we are—Aboriginal people in a modern world—and be proud of us.

Yunupingu was rightly frustrated by the slow pace of Australia's reconciliation journey throughout his lifetime. We all should be. We in this place can best honour his memory by continuing his mission to advance the agency, rights and opportunities of First Nations peoples with the same persistence and determination that he did. May his journey to be reunited with his fathers and his kin be a peaceful one.

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