Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu AC

Readers note: This is an excerpt from the 200 Treasures exhibition catalogue, developed in 2017. This content was written as a brief biography on why this person was included in the exhibition.

‘Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television. Back in 1988, all those talking politicians ... ’ are the words from Treaty, the 1991 international smash hit performed by Mandawuy Yunupingu and his band Yothu Yindi. Treaty became an anthem and got the world dancing. Yunupingu co-wrote the song with Paul Kelly in response to Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s unfulfilled pledge that by 1990 there would be a treaty between Indigenous Australians and the Australian Government. The song’s success coincided with the historic 1992 Mabo decision. Treaty made Yunupingu and his band internationally famous and Yunupingu became a public figure. He trod an unlikely path to rock and roll fame.

Born in 1956 at Yirrkala in Arnhem Land, he was a ‘Maralitja man, a crocodile man’, groomed to assume a position of community leadership by his father. This he achieved through teaching, receiving a BA in education from Deakin University in 1988 and becoming assistant principal of the Yirrkala Community School in 1989.

In 1990, he became principal, the first Indigenous Australian to take up such a role. Yunupingu developed what he called the ‘Both Ways’ approach to education, ‘which recognises equal value for our traditional teaching’ and Western methods. Music was a key medium in his teachings, and Yothu Yindu evolved from this, forming in 1986.

In 1991, Yunupingu retired from his position as principal to devote himself to leading Yothu Yindi. His great success and unique ability to bridge the divide between Indigenous and non- Indigenous communities drew him into the spotlight, especially after he was appointed Australian of the Year in 1992. But his fame came at a high price. He suffered from depression compounded by kidney disease. He used his traumatic experience as another teaching moment, shining a light on health and medical services for remote communities. He died in 2013. His legacy is extensive. He founded the Yothu Yindi Foundation to promote Yolngu culture and foster Indigenous opportunity and wellbeing; its showcase event is the annual Garma Festival.