Yunupingu honoured as a giant with a vision for justice

"A vision underpinned by an unbending belief in the need for Aboriginal people to hold their future in their own hands," he said.

"He had every right to be cynical, but he wasn't. No matter how often Australia let him down, he kept striving to have us rise to his level of integrity.

"And, as he did, what Yunupingu helped us all to see was not the reinvention of Australia, but the realisation of an even greater one."

In 1977, when he was in his late twenties, Yunupingu was elected chair of the Northern Land Council in 1977, the same year he gave an address at the National Press Club.

"These are difficult days for all of us, Aboriginal Australians and European Australians as we learn to live together in a new way, with real equality," Yunupingu said at the time.

"We want to share this land with you, and we ask you to share it with us, openly, and without fear or secret dealings."

Northern Land Council chair Samuel Bush-Blanasi was unable to attend Thursday's ceremony but chief executive Joe Martin-Jard delivered a tribute on his behalf, saying the council owes Yunupingu a debt that could never be repaid.

"His history is our history," he said.

"As chair of the NLC Yunupingu was a true diplomat, a courageous leader, and a man of great vision.

"We will continue what he started and always honour his memory and his historic achievements."

Yunupingu was born on June 30, 1948 and died on April 3, 2023.

Ceremonies to honour Yunupingu's legacy began on Friday in Gunyangara, the northeast Arnhem Land community in which he was born, and will continue until next week.

A public memorial for family and friends was held there on Thursday.

"Yunupingu lived his entire life on his land, surrounded by the sound of bilma (clapsticks), yidaki (didgeridoo) and the manikay (sacred song) and dhulang (sacred designs) of our people," his daughter Binmila Yunupingu said in a statement.

"He was born on our land, he lived all his life on our land and he died on our land secure in the knowledge that his life's work was secure."

Yunupingu means "the rock that stands against time".

In 1963, as a teenager, he helped draft the first Yirrkala bark petition presented to the Australian parliament, calling for Yolngu land rights to be recognised.

An accomplished painter, singer and dancer, Yunupingu met former prime minister Robert Menzies in the 1960s and dealt with every serving Australian prime minister since Gough Whitlam.

In 1973, Yunupingu served as an advisor to the Whitlam government's royal commission into land rights in the Northern Territory. 

He also worked with the Fraser government on the development of Aboriginal land rights legislation for the territory.

Yunupingu worked for many years with the Northern Land Council and also helped his people secure negotiations with mining companies on their land.

He eventually helped to establish the Gumatj-owned Gulkula Bauxite Mine, the first Aboriginal-owned and operated mine in Australia.

With his brother, Dr M, Yunupingu established the Yothu Yindi Foundation, which hosts the annual Garma Festival.

"He returns to where he began, born on sacred Yolngu country in northeast Arnhem Land, not knowing Europeans until his early childhood, living with the rhythm of life, the balance of the land, the water, the sacred winds and the ceremonies – he returns now to his ancestors," Yothu Yindi Foundation chief executive Denise Bowden said.

"He lived and died in the arms of his family, and they in his arms. He is Yolngu first and Yolngu forever."