Yolngu - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For Yolngu language see Yolngu Matha

Yolngu Matha

Yolŋu Matha is a cover term for the languages of the Yolngu , the Indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land in northern Australia. .Yolngu languages have a fortis–lenis contrast in plosive consonants...

The Yolngu or Yolŋu (ˈjoːlŋʊ) are an Indigenous Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land

Arnhem Land

The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...

in the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Yolngu means “person” in the Yolŋu languages.

Yolŋu law

The complete system of Yolngu Law is known as the Maḏayin. Maḏayin embodies the rights of the owners of the law, or citizens (rom watangu walal) who have the rights and responsibilities for this embodiment of law. Maḏayin includes all the people's law (rom); the instruments and objects that encode and symbolise the law (Maḏayin girri); oral dictates; names and song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

cycles and the holy, restricted places (dhuyu ṉuŋgat wäŋa) that are used in the maintenance, education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

and development of law.

This law covers the ownership of land and waters, the resources on or within these lands and waters. It regulates and controls production and trade

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

, the moral

Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...

, social and religious law

Religious law

In some religions, law can be thought of as the ordering principle of reality; knowledge as revealed by a God defining and governing all human affairs. Law, in the religious sense, also includes codes of ethics and morality which are upheld and required by the God...

including laws for the conservation and the farming of fauna

Fauna

Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

, flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

and aquatic life.

Yolŋu believe that if they live out their life according to Maḏayin, it is a right and civilised way to live. The Maḏayin creates the state of Magaya, which is a state of peace, freedom from hostilities and true justice for all.

Kinship system

Yolŋu groups are connected by a complex kinship

Kinship

Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....

system (gurruṯu). This system governs fundamental aspects of Yolŋu life, including responsibilities for ceremony

Ceremony

A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth...

and marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

rules.

Yolŋu life is divided into two moieties: Dhuwa and Yirritja. Each of these is represented by people of a number of different groups, each of which have their own lands, languages, totems and philosophies.

Skin name	Clan groups
*Dhuwa*	Gumatj, Gupapuyŋu, Wangurri, Ritharrngu, Mangalili, Munyuku, Maḏarrpa, Warramiri, Dhalwaŋu, Liyalanmirri.
*Yirritja*	Rirratjiŋu, Gälpu, Djambarrpuyŋu, Golumala, Marrakulu, Marraŋu, Djapu, Ḏatiwuy, Ŋaymil, Djarrwark, Mäḻarra, Gamalaŋga, Gorryindi.

A Yirritja person must always marry a Dhuwa person and vice versa. If a man or woman is Dhuwa, their mother will be Yirritja.

Kinship relations are also mapped onto the lands owned by the Yolngu through their hereditary estates

Estate (law)

An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...

– so almost everything is either Yirritja or Dhuwa – every fish, stone, river, etc., belongs to one or the other moiety. A few items are wakinŋu (without moiety).

Avoidance relationships

As with nearly all Aboriginal groups, avoidance relationships exist in Yolngu culture between certain relations. The two main avoidance relationships are:

son-in-law – mother-in-law

brother – sister

Brother–sister avoidance called mirriri normally begins after initiation. In avoidance relationships, people don't speak directly or look at one another, and try to avoid being in too close proximity with each other. People are avoided, but respected. There are other avoidance relationships, including same-sex relationships, but these are the main two.

Language

Yolngu speak a dozen dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

s of a language group known as Yolngu Matha

Yolngu Matha

. English can be anywhere from a third to a tenth language for Yolŋu.

Yolŋu seasons

Yolŋu identify six distinct seasons: Mirdawarr, Dhaarratharramirri, Rarranhdharr, Worlmamirri, Baarra'mirri and Gurnmul or Waltjarnmirri.

Yolŋu food groups

Yolŋu classified food into distinct groups.

Macassan contact

Yolŋu sustained good trade relations with Macassan fisherman

Fisherman

A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...

for several hundred years. The Macassan respected the land as Yolŋu land; they only ever camped on the beach, and generally avoided contact with Yolŋu women.

They made yearly visits to harvest trepang and pearl

Pearl

A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...

s, paying Yolŋu in kind with goods such as knives, metal, canoes, tobacco and pipes.

The Yolŋu folklore (the Djanggawul

Djanggawul

In Aboriginal mythology, the Djanggawul are three siblings, two female and one male, who created the landscape of Australia and covered it with flora. They came from the island of Baralku, and were eventually eaten by Galeru. The two female Djanggawul made the world's sacred talismans by breaking...

myths) has preserved accounts of the Baijini

Baijini

Baijini are a race of people mentioned in the Djanggawul song cycle of the aboriginal Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory.According to Ronald M...

people, who appear to be distinct from the Macassans. The Baijini have been variously interpreted by modern researchers as a different group of (presumably, SE Asian) visitors to Australia who may have visited Arnhem Land before the Macassans, as a mythological reflection of the experiences of some Yolŋu people who have traveled to Sulawesi

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...

with the Macassans and came back, or, in more fringe views, even as visitors from China.

In 1906, the South Australian Government

Government of South Australia

The form of the Government of South Australia is prescribed in its constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...

did not renew the Macassan's permit to harvest trepang. This loss of trade caused some disruption to the Yolŋu way of life, particularly since they did not know why the Macassan had stopped coming.

Yolŋu had well established trade routes within Australia, extending to Central Australian clans and other Aboriginal countries. (For example, they did not make boomerang

Boomerang

A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...

s, but obtained these via trade from Central Australia

Central Australia

Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs in Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Centralia; likewise the people of the area are sometimes called Centralians...

. This contact was maintained through use of message stick

Message stick

A message stick is a form of communication traditionally used by Indigenous Australians. It is usually a solid piece of wood, around 20–30cm in length, etched with angular lines and dots....

s, as well as mailmen – with some men walking several hundred kilometres in their work to send messages and relay orders between tribes and countries.

European contact

Yolŋu had known about Europeans prior to the arrival of British

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

in Australia through their contact with Macassan traders, which probably began around the sixteenth century. Their word for European, Balanda, is derived from "Hollander" (Dutch person).

Nineteenth century

In the late nineteenth century, white Australians began to open up Arnhem Land for cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

grazing. A series of battle

Battle

Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...

s between Yolŋu and Balanda occurred at this time. Yolngu were arguably more warrior

Warrior

A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...

-like than other Indigenous Australians because they had had to defend their northern shoreline for many hundreds – if not thousands – of years.

There was also a series of massacres. (See List of massacres of indigenous Australians).

At Florida Station

Station (Australian agriculture)

Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...

, around 1885 Yolngu were fed poisoned horse-meat after they killed and ate cattle (under their law, Madayin, it was their land and they had a right to eat animals on their land). Many people died as a result of that incident.

Around 1895 some Yolngu took a small amount of barbed wire from a huge roll to build fishing spears. Men, women and children were chased by mounted police

Mounted police

Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. They continue to serve in remote areas and in metropolitan areas where their day-to-day function may be picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and...

and men on horseback from the Eastern and African Cold Storage Company and shot.

Twentieth century

In 1932 some Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

trepangers were speared by Yolŋu men after their mothers had been allegedly raped by the Japanese. Japanese did not show the same respect to the Yolŋu that the Macassan had shown. This came to be known as the Caledon Bay crisis

Caledon Bay crisis

The Caledon Bay crisis refers to a series of killings at Caledon Bay in the Northern Territory of Australia during 1932–34. These events are widely seen as a turning point in relations between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians....

. Several Yolŋu were imprisoned in Fannie Bay Gaol

Fannie Bay Gaol

Fannie Bay Gaol is a historic gaol in Darwin, Australia. The gaol operated as Her Majesty's Gaol and Labour Prison, from 20 September 1883 until 1 September 1979...

in present-day Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

.

The Australian government feared this would create bad international relations (this was prior to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

). There were calls in some quarters to "teach the blacks a lesson", i.e. to send out shooting parties to hunt down and shoot men, women and children; something that happened several times in nineteenth-century Australia (see Coniston massacre

Coniston massacre

The Coniston massacre, which took place from 14 August to 18 October 1928 near the Coniston cattle station, Northern Territory, Australia, was the last known massacre of Indigenous Australians. People of the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye groups were killed...

, Myall Creek massacre

Myall Creek massacre

Myall Creek Massacre involved the killing of up to 30 unarmed Australian Aborigines by European settlers on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek near Bingara in northern New South Wales...

, Gippsland massacres

Gippsland massacres

The Aboriginal people of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, known as the Gunai/Kurnai people, fought against the European invasion of their land. The technical superiority of the Europeans' weapons gave the Europeans an absolute advantage...

).

However, Donald Thomson

Donald Thomson

Donald Fergusson Thomson, OBE was an Australian anthropologist and ornithologist who was largely responsible for turning the Caledon Bay crisis into a "decisive moment in the history of Aboriginal-European relations." He is remembered as a friend of the Yolngu people, and as a champion of...

, a young anthropologist, was able to avert this by going to live with the Yolŋu and ascertaining the facts of the case (the prisoners were released as a result of a legal oversight).

Thomson lived with the Yolŋu for several years and made some photograph

Photograph

A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...

ic and written records of their way of life at that time. These have become important historical documents for both Yolŋu and European Australians.

In 1935, as a result of this publicity, a Methodist mission opened in Arnhem Land.

In 1941, during World War II

World War II

, Donald Thomson persuaded the Australian Army

Australian Army

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

to establish a Special Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

Unit (NTSRU) of Yolŋu men to help repel Japanese raids on Australia's northern coastline (this was top secret at the time). Yolŋu made contact with Australian and US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

servicemen

Soldier

A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...

, although Thomson was keen to prevent this (it is believed this is where petrol sniffing began for Aboriginal Australians). Thomson relates how the soldiers would often try to obtain Yolŋu spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...

s as mementos. These spears were vital to Yolŋu livelihood, and took several days to make and forge.

More recently, Yolngu have seen the imposition of large mine

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

s on their tribal lands at Nhulunbuy.

Yolngu in politics

Since the 1960s Yolngu leaders have been conspicuous in the struggle for Aboriginal land rights.

In 1963, provoked by a unilateral government decision to excise a part of their land for a bauxite

Bauxite

Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...

mine, Yolngu at Yirrkala sent to the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

a petition on bark

Yirrkala bark petitions

The Yirrkala bark petitions 1963 are historic Australian documents that were the first traditional documents prepared by Indigenous Australians that were recognised by the Australian Parliament, and are thus the first documentary recognition of Indigenous people in Australian law.Wali Wunungmurra,...

. The bark petition attracted national and international attention and now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra

Parliament House, Canberra

Parliament House is the meeting facility of the Parliament of Australia located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The building was designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and opened on 1988 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia...

as a testament to the Yolngu role in the birth of the land rights

Native title

Native title is the Australian version of the common law doctrine of aboriginal title.Native title is "the recognition by Australian law that some Indigenous people have rights and interests to their land that come from their traditional laws and customs"...

movement.

When the politicians demonstrated they would not change their minds, the Yolngu of Yirrkala took their grievances to the courts in 1971, in the case of Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd

Gove land rights case

Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd, 17 FLR 141 , was the first litigation on native title in Australia. The decision of Justice Richard Blackburn ruled against the claimants on a number of issues of law and fact, rejecting the doctrine of aboriginal title in favor of terra nullius.Although Milirrpum was...

, the Gove land rights case

Gove land rights case

. Yolngu lost the case because Australian courts were still bound to follow the terra nullius

Terra nullius

Terra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law meaning "land belonging to no one" , which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished...

principle, which did not allow for the recognition of any “prior rights” to land to Indigenous people at the time of colonisation. However, the Judge did acknowledge the claimants' ritual and economic use of the land and that they had an established system of law, paving the way for future Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia

Native title

.

The song Treaty, by Yothu Yindi

Yothu Yindi

Yothu Yindi are an Australian band with Aboriginal and balanda members formed in 1986. Aboriginal members come from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land...

, which became an international hit in 1989, demonstrates the dedication of Yolngu to the cause of reconciliation, land rights and a desire for broader recognition of their culture and Law.

Yolngu arts

Yolngu artists and performers have been at the forefront of global recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Yolngu traditional dancers and musicians have performed widely throughout the world and have had a profound influence on contemporary performance troupes such as Bangarra Dance Theatre

Bangarra Dance Theatre

Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Indigenous Australian contemporary dance company founded in 1989 by Carole Johnson, an African-American and founding director of National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association . Bangarra is the Wiradjuri word meaning "to make fire".Stephen Page has been the...

Yolngu visual art

Prior to the emergence of the Western Desert art movement

Papunya Tula

Papunya Tula, or Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 that is owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative work with the Western Desert Art Movement, popularly referred to as "dot painting"...

, the most well-known Aboriginal art was the Yolngu style of fine cross-hatching paintings on bark

Bark painting

Bark painting is an Australian Aboriginal art form, involving painting on the interior of a strip of tree bark. This is a continuing form of artistic expression in Arnhem Land and other regions in the Top End of Australia including parts of the Kimberley region of Western Australia...

.

Artists, such as David Malangi Daymirringu

David Malangi

David Malangi was an Indigenous Australian Yolngu artist from the Northern Territory. He was one of the most well known bark painters from Arnhem Land and a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art. He was born at Mulanga, on the east bank of the Glyde River.He painted on...

, are renowned for their work. Malangi's work featured on the original Australian dollar

Australian dollar

The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...

note. The Australian government used this artwork without his approval, or even knowledge, but made attempts to remunerate Malangi at a later date.

The hollow logs (larrakitj) used in Arnhem Land burial practices serve an important spiritual purpose and are also important canvases for Yolngu art (see image at top of this article), as is the yidaki or didgeridoo

Didgeridoo

The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...

(see below).

Yolngu are also weavers. They weave dye

Dye

A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....

d pandanus

Pandanus

Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...

leaves into baskets. Necklaces are also made from beads made of seeds, fish vertebrae or shells.

Colours are often important in determining where artwork comes from and which clan or family group created it. Some designs are the insignia

Insignia

Insignia or insigne pl -nia or -nias : a symbol or token of personal power, status or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction...

of particular families and clans.

Yolngu music

Yothu Yindi

, the band, is Australia’s most successful and widely recognised contemporary indigenous music group.

Arnhem Land is the home of the yidaki, which Europeans have named the didgeridoo

Didgeridoo

.

Yolngu are both players and craftsmen of the yidaki. It can only be played by certain men, and traditionally there are strict protocols around its use.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an Indigenous Australian musician, who sings in the Yolngu language.He was born in Galiwin'ku , off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Australia about 350 miles from Darwin. He is from the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu and his mother from the Galpu nation...

is a famous Yolngu singer.

Prominent Yolngu

G. Djerrkura
Gatjil Djerrkura
Gatjil Djerrkura OAM was an Aboriginal leader and indigenous spokesman in the Northern Territory and Australia.He was a senior elder of the Wangurri Aboriginal clan of the Yolngu people...
Nathan Djerrkura
Nathan Djerrkura
Nathan Djerrkura is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League . He was drafted to the Geelong Football Club in 2006 and played four games for them before being traded to the Western Bulldogs during the 2010 Trade Week.-Early life:Nathan Djerrkura was born to Gatjil and...
David Gulpilil
David Gulpilil
David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu , is an Indigenous Australian traditional dancer and actor. His first starring role was Walkabout....
Djalu Gurruwiwi
Djalu Gurruwiwi
Djalu Gurruwiwi Djalu Gurruwiwi Djalu Gurruwiwi (first name also spelled Djalu; born at Milingimbi Mission on Wirriku Island, one of the smaller islands in the Wessel Islands group, Northern Territory, Australia, in the early 1930s (before World War II) is a senior member of the Galpu clan, of the...
George Rrurrambu
George Rrurrambu
George Burarrwanga , known in life as George Rrurrambu, was a Yolngu man from Elcho Island in Arnhem Land. He was an icon of Aboriginal rock music, and was most well known as the charismatic frontman of the Warumpi Band....
David Malangi
David Malangi
David Malangi was an Indigenous Australian Yolngu artist from the Northern Territory. He was one of the most well known bark painters from Arnhem Land and a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art. He was born at Mulanga, on the east bank of the Glyde River.He painted on...
Galarrwuy Yunupingu
Galarrwuy Yunupingu
Galarrwuy YunupinguAM is a leader in the Australian Indigenous community, and has been involved in the fight for Land Rights throughout his career...
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an Indigenous Australian musician, who sings in the Yolngu language.He was born in Galiwin'ku , off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Australia about 350 miles from Darwin. He is from the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu and his mother from the Galpu nation...
Mandawuy Yunupingu
Mandawuy Yunupingu
Mandawuy Yunupingu , born 17 September 1956, is an Aboriginal Australian musician, most notable for being the front man of the band Yothu Yindi.-Early life:...

Garma festival

Every year, Yolngu come together to celebrate their culture at the Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures

Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures

The Garma Festival of Traditional Culture is an annual festival that is held in north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is a celebration of the cultural inheritance of the Yolngu people.-History:...

. Non-Yolngu are welcome to attend the festival and learn about Yolngu traditions and Law. The Yothu Yindi Foundation oversees this festival.

Yolngu ethnographic studies

A Deakin University

Deakin University

Deakin University is an Australian public university with nearly 40,000 higher education students in 2010. It receives more than A$600 million in operating revenue annually, and controls more than A$1.3 billion in assets. It received more than A$35 million in research income in 2009 and had 835...

study investigated Aboriginal knowledge systems in reaction to what the authors regarded as Western ethnocentrism in science studies

Science studies

Science studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in a broad social, historical, and philosophical context. It is concerned with the history of academic disciplines, the interrelationships between science and society, and the alleged covert purposes...

. They argue that Yolngu culture is a system of knowledge different in many ways from that of Western culture

Western culture

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

, and may be broadly described as viewing the world as a related whole rather than as a collection of objects. Singing the Land, Signing the Land, by Watson and Chambers, explores the relationship between Yolngu and Western knowledge by using the Yolngu idea of ganma, which metaphorically describes two streams, one coming from the land (Yolngu knowledge) and one from the sea (Western knowledge) engulfing each other so that "the forces of the streams combine and lead to deeper understanding and truth."