Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to defer to Kumunjayi Japanangka Granites, who was born in 1950 and died recently, in June of this year. Kumunjayi Granites chaired the Central Land Council between 1994 and 1996. He is remembered as a senior law man, a pastor and educational champion. He knew the value of a well-rounded bilingual and bicultural education. As a young man he trained as a teacher. He completed a Bachelor of Education and later undertook postgraduate studies. Kumunjayi was an ATSIC councillor and served on the Yuendumu Community Council, including a period as its president. He was a candidate for election for the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory, contesting the seat of Stuart against his nephew, Labor member Karl Hampton. Until close to his death he worked as an interpreter, mentor and mediator in his home community of Yuendumu, three hours north-west of Alice Springs. He was born there in 1950 and raised in the community by his parents from the Mount Doreen and Granites areas. Kumunjayi was widely related to families across Central Australia.

In the CLC’s oral history collection, Every Hill Got a Story, he spoke about his grandfather from the Lake Mackay area and connections on his mother’s side from Alekarenge and Willowra. In his time as the CLC chair, Kumunjayi focused on the repatriation of sacred objects. In 1994, he travelled with the inaugural CLC chair, Wenten Rubuntja, to Sydney to collect sacred objects bought overseas by a businessman to bring them back home to their rightful owners. During a CLC symposium on the return of sacred objects in 1995, an effort to persuade museums around the country to return these objects, he spoke about the urgency of this unfinished business. Around the same time, Kumunjayi began to make a name for himself as an artist. His works are held by public and private collections throughout Australia.

Kumunjayi Granites was farewelled at a large funeral last Friday in Alice Springs, and I was privileged to be in attendance. I knew this man from the mid-eighties. He was someone who I didn't always agree with, to be fair, but who was prepared to stand up for what he believed. He always advocated for his family and his Warlpiri communities. He leaves a proud tradition and a great legacy. He is someone I am proud to have met and known as a friend.