Yolgnu

[CLAN GROUPS]  [YOLGNU WORLD VIEW]  [HISTORY]

It is only since 1935 that the Yolngu (people) of the region have had sustained contact with the Balanda (Europeans), firstly through Methodist missions, then through contact with service personnel during World War Two and, more recently, with the imposition of multi-national mines on their tribal lands.

Yolngu speak a dozen dialects of a language group known as Yolngu matha. English is very much a second (or thirteenth) language.

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 mine, Yolngu at Yirrkala in north east Arnhem land sent to the House of Representatives a petition on bark (the traditional medium for visual art representation). The bark petition attracted national and international attention and now hangs in the national parliament as a testament to the Yolngu role in the birth of the land rights movement.

Yolngu artists and performers have been at the forefront of global recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Yolngu artists, renowned for their fine cross-hatching paintings on bark have international reputations and Yolngu traditional dancers and musicians have performed widely throughout the world and had profound influence on contemporary performance troupes. Yothu Yindi, the band, are Australia’s most successful and widely recognised contemporary Indigenous music group.

Yolngu clan groups

Yirritja Clan Groups: Gumatj, Gupapuyngu, Wangurri, Ritharrngu, Mangalili, Munyuku, Madarrpa, Warramiri, Dhalwangu, Liyalanmirri

Dhuwa Clan Groups: Rirratjingu, Galpu, Djambarrpuyngu, Golumala, Marrakulu, Marrangu, Djapu, Datiwuy, Ngaymil, Djarrwark

An Introduction to the Yolngu world view

Yolngu culture in northeast Arnhem Land — a heartland of Aboriginal culture and land rights — is among the oldest living cultures on earth, stretching back more than 40,000 years.

Yolngu life is divided into two moieties: Dhuwa and Yirritja. Each of these are represented by people of a number of different groups, each of which have their own lands, languages and philosophies. Learn more about Dhuwa and Yirritja (This is a 1p PDF written in 2000)

Yolngu groups are connected by a complex kinship system (gurrutu). This system governs fundamental aspects of Yolngu life, including responsibilities for ceremony and marriage rules. Kinship relations are also mapped onto the lands owned by the Yolngu through their hereditary estates. Learn more about Gurrutu (This is a 1p PDF written in 2000)

Yolngu have many ways of talking about processes of learning which draw on aspects of their world view. For example, some yirritja groups talk about the meeting of the salt and fresh water as a metaphor for the concept of garma. Some dhuwa groups use the metaphor of milngurr – the relation between an artesian freshwater spring and their tidal influences – to elaborate similar ideas.

Yolngu people speak a dozen dialects of a language group known as Yolngu Matha. English is a second (or thirteenth) language for many Yolngu.

Learn more about Yolngu Matha (This is a 2p PDF written in 2000)
Download a Gumatj Conversation guide (This is a 2p PDF written in 2000)

Thanks to NTU (now Charles Darwin University) for permission to use the interpretive materials.

Visit Charles Darwin University Yolgnu Studies for more information

Yolgnu history

The Yolngu have maintained their cultural distinctiveness and integrity in a manner rarely equalled elsewhere on the Australian mainland. The Yolngu lived a traditional lifestyle until 1935 when Balanda (Europeans) began to live in the area. Sustained contact between Yolngu and Balanda came firstly through the Methodist missions, then through contact with service personnel during World War Two and more recently with the imposition of a multi-national mine on their lands.

Since the 1960s Yolngu leaders have been conspicuous in the struggle for Aboriginal land rights in Australia. In 1963, provoked by a unilateral government decision to excise a part of their land for a bauxite mine, Yolngu people at Yirrkala in north east Arnhem Land sent to the Commonwealth Government’s House of Representatives a petition on bark (a traditional medium for visual art representation). The bark petition attracted national and international attention and now hangs in the national parliament as a testament to the Yolngu role in the birth of the land rights movement. The bark petition precipitated a Federal government inquiry and then litigation by the Yolngu to defend their sacred lands and prevent their desecration. In what is now regarded as the first native title case, Justice Blackburn acknowledged that:

The evidence shows a subtle and elaborate system highly adapted to the country in which the people led their lives, which provided a stable order of society and was remarkably free from the vagaries of personal whim or influence. If ever a system could be called ‘a government of laws, and not of men’, it is that shown in the evidence before me.
Milirrpum v Nabalco (1971) 17 FLR 141, at p 267.

However, Justice Blackburn upheld the now discredited doctrine of terra nullius and the bauxite mine went ahead on Yolngu lands. It wasn’t until 1992 that the High Court of Australia overturned terra nullius in the famous Mabo land rights case.

Yolngu people have continued to be active in the land rights struggle. The Chairman of the Yothu Yindi Foundation is Galarrwuy Yunupingu. He interpreted for his father, the leader of the Gumatj clan in the Milirrpum case and is now widely regarded as the elder statesman of Indigenous leaders. He has been the Chairman of the influential Northern Land Council since 1983, he was honoured as Australian of the Year in 1978 and in 1985 he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to the Australian Indigenous community.

Yolngu artists and performers have been at the forefront of global recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Yolngu artists, renowned for their fine cross-hatching paintings on bark, have international reputations and Yolngu traditional dancers and musicians have performed widely throughout the world and profoundly influenced contemporary performance troupes. Yothu Yindi, the band, is Australia’s most successful and widely recognised contemporary Indigenous music group.

The main kinship term Yolngu people use to describe the glue that binds their society is yothu yindi, literally meaning ‘child and mother’. The Yolngu concept of Yothu Yindi recognises duality and fosters balance where there is difference. It encompasses the two sides of a world in which balance is maintained: a balance between people and that has ensured their survival for tens of thousands of years.

Nanikiya Mununggiritj, Senior Man of the Yarrwidi Gumatj clan and Senior Ranger with Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation explains:

People, plants, animals, water, land, the stars, our ceremonies and our creation stories are either Dhuwa or Yirritja. This helps maintain a balance in our culture.

I am Yirritja and wife is Dhuwa. Her clan is Rirratjingu. People always marry someone in a clan of the other moiety. My children are Yirritja, like me and Yarrwidi Gumatj, because I am their father. Gumatj and Rirratjingu have a special relationship with each other. We refer to ourselves as Yothu Yindi, which refers to the mother-child relationship, because our mutual responsibilities to each other are like those of a mother and her children throughout their lives.