Mandawuy Yunupingu

Yunupingu was born as Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu on 17 September 1956 in Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, an Aboriginal reserve in the northeastern part of the Northern Territory. He was a member of the Gumatj people, one of sixteen groups of the Yolngu people. His skin name was Gudjuk, but his name was changed to Mandawuy in 1990 when a family member with the same name died, in line with Yolngu custom. He described his names as "Mandawuy" means 'from clay'; Djarrtjuntjun means 'roots of the paperbark tree that still burn and throw off heat after a fire has died down'; Yunupingu depicts a solid rock that, having travelled from freshwater, stands in salty waters, its base deep in the earth. I am Gudjuk the fire kite". His mother, Makurrngu – one of Munggurrawuy's 12 wives – was a member of the Galpu clan. His oldest sister, Gulumbu Yunupingu (1945 – 9 May 2012), was also an artist and healer. His other sisters are Nyapanyapa and Barrupu, who are also artists. His older brother, Galarrwuy Yunupingu (1948 – 2023), a senior elder of Arnhem Land, was Australian of the Year in 1978, and was an Indigenous land rights campaigner. Yunupingu attended Yirrkala Community School. ==Teaching==

In 1983, Yunupingu published "Outstation schools at Yirrkala" in Aboriginal Child at School, where he described the advantages to Indigenous people by "[determining] their own way of living, provided, they manage budgeting through Isolated Children's Allowance, staffing their schools, developing curriculum, and teacher training". In March 1987 he contributed to the book, Educational needs of the Homelands Centres of the L̲aynhapuy Region, North East Arnhem Land : report of the Balanga ̲na Project : a Schools Commission Project of national significance. He was the first Aboriginal person from Arnhem Land to gain a university degree, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in education from Deakin University in 1988. In 1989 he became assistant principal of the Yirrkala Community School. He helped establish the Yolngu Action Group and introduced the Both Ways system at his school, which recognised traditional Aboriginal teaching alongside Western methods. In 1990 he took over as principal of Yirrkala Community School. Also that year he authored "Language and power : the Yolngu rise to power at Yirrkala School", detailing his work with Yolngu Action Group. He remained principal until late 1991, leaving to expand his musical career. In 1992 Yunupingu worked with rock musician Jimmy Barnes on a project called "Sister Schools", the aim of which was to ensure that "schools with few or no Aboriginal children will forge educational and social links with schools with large numbers of Aboriginal children, in an attempt to foster tolerance and understanding". Before the launch of the project, "the Yunupingu kids" (Mandawuy's children) recorded a song written by Yunupingu called "School" with Barnes' children in their band The Tin Lids. As part of the project, endorsed by the government, schools with few or no Aboriginal children would forge educational and social links with schools with many Aboriginal children, by exchanging letters, photographs, and other media. Around 100 schools expressed interest in the project, which was launched in August 1992 by connecting the school in Yirrkala with Gib Gate Primary School near Mittagong in New South Wales. His wife, Yalmay Yunupingu, taught at the school for around 40 years before her retirement in 2023, and was also a dedicated teacher and mentor in bilingual education. ==Yothu Yindi==

By 1985, with Yunupingu on vocals and guitar, he formed a Yolngu band including Witiyana Marika on manikay (traditional vocals), bilma (ironwood clapsticks) and dance, Milkayngu Mununggurr on yidaki (didgeridoo), and Gurrumul Yunupingu – his nephew – on keyboards, guitar and percussion. The following year the Yolngu group combined with a balanda (non-Indigenous) group, Swamp Jockeys, which had Andrew Belletty on drums, Stuart Kellaway on bass guitar and Cal Williams on lead guitar. The band achieved national recognition for their single, "Treaty", the remixed version was released in June 1991, which reached No. 11 on the ARIA Singles Chart and stayed in the top 50 for 20 weeks. Mandawuy and Galarrwuy had wanted a song to highlight the lack of progress on a treaty between Aboriginal peoples and the federal government. The song contains words in Gumatj, Yunupingu's variety of Yolngu matha. It was written by Australian musician, Paul Kelly, with Yothu Yindi members Yunupingu, Kellaway, Williams, Gurrumul, Mununggurr and Marika. The associated album, Tribal Voice appeared in October 1991, which peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Nevertheless both "Treaty" in 1992 and "Djäpana (Sunset Dreaming)" in 1993 charted on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play singles charts, with "Treaty" peaking at No. 6, Tribal Voice peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums chart in 1992. In 1991 "Treaty", co-written by Yunupingu, won the inaugural Song of the Year Award at the APRA Music Awards presented by Australasian Performing Right Association. In May 2001 it was listed in the APRA Top 30 Australian songs of all time. Yothu Yindi completed four more studio albums, Freedom (November 1993), Birrkuta - Wild Honey (November 1996), One Blood (June 1999) and Garma (November 2000). From May 2007 the foundation has supported the Dilthan Yolngunha (Healing Place), which uses traditional healing practices and mainstream medicine. ==Recognition and awards==

• On 26 January 1993, Yunupingu was named Australian of the Year for 1992 by the National Australia Day Council. • In 1993, Yunupingu's friend, filmmaker Stephen Maxwell Johnson (Yolngu Boy, High Ground), made a feature-length documentary about him, called Tribal Voice. • In April 1998 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Queensland University of Technology, "in recognition of his significant contribution to the education of Aboriginal children, and to greater understanding between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians". • Yunupingu was inducted into the NT Hall of Fame at the NT Indigenous Music Awards 2004. Yothu Yindi were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in December 2012, with Peter Garrett (frontman of Midnight Oil) and Paul Kelly introducing the group. • In the 2014 Australia Day Honours, Yunupingu was posthumously invested as a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), for eminent service to the performing arts as a musician and songwriter, to the advancement of education and social justice for Indigenous people, and as an advocate for cultural exchange and understanding. ==Death and legacy==

Yunupingu died on 2 June 2013, aged 56 following a long battle with kidney disease. After his death, the Prime Minister of Australia at the time, Julia Gillard, said: "We have today lost a great Australian voice in the efforts towards reconciliation." ==Personal life and family==

Yunupingu was married to a fellow teacher, Yalmay Marika Yunupingu of the Rirritjingu clan, also referred to as Yalmay Marika He is survived by five daughters and five grandsons. Yunupingu was friends with musician Jimmy Barnes, with the men working together on "Sister Schools", a federal government program initiated by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Robert Tickner, which aimed to link Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal schoolchildren around the country. The children of both men sang together as The Tin Lids and The Yunupingu Kids, on a song called "School" in August 1992. One of his grandsons, Rrawun Maymuru, is lead singer of East Journey. In May 2013, the National Indigenous Music Awards announced that Yothu Yindi were to be honoured at their awards ceremony in August, in which Maymuru was to be backed by original band members. Another nephew, Nicky Yunupingu, died by suicide in July 2008. Health Yunupingu was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure, which in turn contributed to advanced kidney failure, for which he received haemodialysis three times a week in Darwin. By December 2008 he was resigned to the fact that he may die without having seen the longed-for settlement between white and black Australia: By October 2009 he was on a kidney transplant waiting list. He also undertook traditional healing practices. His sister Gulumbu was one of a group of senior Yolngu women who had helped set up Dilthan Yolngunha – a healing place – with the support of the Yothu Yindi Foundation. Yunupingu was one of its first patients. ==Bibliography==