Yunupingu, Galarrwuy (1948-2023), was an Australian Aboriginal rights activist. He was a member of the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu people. Yunupingu worked to promote the rights of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. The Indigenous population includes the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and the Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Galarrwuy Yunupingu was born on June 30, 1948, at Yirrkala, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Arnhem Land, in the northeastern corner of the Northern Territory, has long been a center of traditional Aboriginal life. Yunupingu attended a local mission school and a Methodist Bible college in Brisbane. In the early 1960’s, he became involved in the fight for Indigenous land rights.
In 1963, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced plans for the mining of bauxite (a mineral from which aluminum is produced) in areas of Arnhem Land. The region had been part of an Aboriginal land reserve, but the government removed the land from the reserve so it could grant mining leases there. Menzies had not consulted with any Aboriginal leaders before making the mining plans.
In response to Menzies’s actions, Yunupingu helped his father, clan leader Mungurrawuy Yunupingu, draft a petition to the government. The document voiced their concerns about the mining project and its impact on Indigenous people. A parliamentary inquiry recognized that Aboriginal sacred sites should be protected, but it did not stop the mining project.
In 1968, Yolngu leaders brought their case to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. The dispute became known as the Gove Land Rights Case. During the proceedings, Galarrwuy served as an interpreter for his father.
In 1971, the judge in the case ruled in favor of the government. He accepted that the Yolngu had proved that their people had lived in the Gove region for thousands of years. However, Australian property laws at the time were based on the concept of terra nullius. This Latin term meant that, for legal purposes, Australia belonged to no one when the British claimed and settled it beginning in the late 1700’s. The concept of terra nullius remained law until 1993.
In 1973, the Northern Land Council was established to further the cause of Aboriginal land rights. Yunupingu began working for the council in 1975. He served as its chairman from 1977 to 1980 and again from 1983 to 2004. In this position, he led negotiations between Aboriginal people and government representatives. Yunupingu did not oppose mining on traditionally Aboriginal land as long as the people had input in the development and received a fair share of the profits.
For his efforts to defend the rights of Indigenous Australians, Yunupingu was named Australian of the Year in 1978. In 1985, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia. The Order of Australia is Australia’s highest award for service to the country or to humanity. Yunupingu died on April 3, 2023.
