From a land rights 'radical' to a steely elder who had the ear of successive prime ministers, the late northeast Arnhem Land leader, Yunupingu, leaves a powerful legacy.
"I thought he was an arrogant bloody young kid," Mr Helms once said."He never, never loses passion for his people on his way."
On his return to Arnhem Land, the young man then known to non-Indigenous people as "James", Yunupingu cast off the notion of priesthood, and followed very different paths. As the NLC boss, he tightrope walked his way through negotiations over uranium mining on the edge of Kakadu National Park, which had received great pushback from Kakadu's Mirarr people."Governments and mining companies don't normally deal with just any ratbags and radicals," Yunupingu famously said in accepting the recognition.
While Yunupingu was focused on his political agenda, music was a lifelong passion, and he was a guiding force for Yothu Yindi during their early years as a touring band.Although seldom onstage rocking out with the group, his fingerprints were all over their work: he painted the album art, sung traditional elements of the songs, and offered advice to his younger brother Mandawuy about how to keep his Yolngu culture strong as he navigated the music industry.
In his post-NLC years, Yunupingu chaired the Gumatj Corporation, which would receive vast amounts of mining royalties from company Rio Tinto for its use of Yolngu land.
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