Yunupingu donald

Yunupingu, Yolŋu leader and campaigner for Indigenous rights, dies aged 74.
One of Australia's most influential Aboriginal leaders Yunupingu has died after a long illness in the Northern Territory, aged 74.
Donald Wininba Ganambarr.

•

The news of the passing of Yunupingu today will resonate around the nation. This is an immensely sad occasion for Australians, especially for Indigenous Australians.

A Gumatj man of the Yolngu people, Yunupingu was born in 1948 on the island of Gunyangara in Melville Bay in Arnhem Land.

He was educated at the Yirrkala mission school before attending the Methodist Bible College in Brisbane.

As a young man, he became an advocate for advancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights. He was a pioneer and a forefather for the cause. His courage and commitment throughout his life changed our nation and inspired many.

In 1963, he helped draft the Yirrkala Bark Petitions with his father and uncle. Those petitions asserted Aboriginal ownership of the land over which mining rights had been granted by the government without consulting the Yolngu owners.

While the Yolngu were unsuccessful in the Gove Land Rights case, their legal action set in motion change. For in 1976, the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed by federal parliament – our country’s first legislatio

•

Visionary Indigenous leader and keeper of songlines Yunupingu dies at 75 surrounded by family and friends: 'A giant of the nation'

Visionary land rights pioneer Yunupingu is being remembered by his people as 'a giant of the nation' as they mourn his death in northeast Arnhem Land.

Surrounded by his family and ceremonial adornments, Yunupingu, 75, died peacefully at his home in northeast Arnhem Land on Monday morning, the Youth Yindi Foundation confirmed.

'A giant of the nation whose contribution to public life spanned seven decades, he was first and foremost a leader of his people, whose welfare was his most pressing concern and responsibility,' the Youth Yindi Foundation, he chaired, said in a statement.

Yunupingu was born on June 30, 1948, in Gunyangara, on the northern tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory.

A pioneer for land rights throughout Australia, in 1963 he assisted in the drafting of the first Yirrkala bark petition presented to the Australian parliament.

Aboriginal land rights leader Yunupingu died peacefully at his home in Arnhem Land aged

•

Aboriginal 'giant of a nation' Yunupingu dies aged 74

One of Australia's most influential Aboriginal leaders Yunupingu has died after a long illness in the Northern Territory, aged 74.

Yunupingu was a trailblazer in the fight for land rights and the constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in Australia.

The Gumatj clan leader was named Australian of the Year in 1978.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led tributes to him, saying he had been a great leader and statesman.

Note to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: Yunupingu's last name and image are used here in accordance with the wishes of his family.

"Yunupingu walked in two worlds within authority, power and grace, and he worked to make them whole - together," Mr Albanese wrote on Twitter.

"He now walks in another place, but he has left such great footsteps for us to follow in this one."

Yunupingu rose to prominence in the land rights movement in the 1960s, and was part of the first Australian legal case which tested the native title rights of First Nations pe