Yirrkala#Education

There has been an Aboriginal community at Yirrkala throughout recorded history, but the community increased enormously in size when Yirrkala mission was founded in 1935, with people from 13 different Yolngu clans moving to Yirrkala. Around this time, the Methodist Overseas Mission (MOM) was encouraging their senior staff to study anthropology under A. P. Elkin at Sydney University, to learn more about Aboriginal Australian culture, in particular the Yolngu people who lived in East Arnhem.{{cite journal | title=Mutual conversion?: The methodist church and the Yolngu, with particular reference to Yirrkala | journal=Humanities Research| volume=IX| issue=1 | publisher=ANU Press |first=Howard |last= Morphy | date= 2005 | url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.616576409940559 | access-date=7 June 2023 | pages=41–53}} [https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.616576409940559 PDF]

Mission superintendents included founding superintendent Wilbur Chaseling, Harold Thornell, and Edgar Wells, who wrote about their experiences there. The residents were free to come and go as they wished, and the interaction was on the whole positive in those early days, with a lack of dogmatism by the missionaries, and the Yolngu people accommodating Christianity within a version of their own beliefs.

MOM received a government subsidy to run the mission, and school classes operated from 1936, at first outdoors under a tree, and later beneath the Mission House. In 1951, a new school building was built, and, by 1952, it had 47 children regularly attending classes there, taught by a Miss Proctor. She was not a trained teacher, but had worked at the mission on Goulburn Island for three years. The mission received child endowment for every Aboriginal child there, regardless of attendance at the school.

During World War II, a RAAF airbase operated close by. Many mission residents worked there, as boat pilots for the RAAF and the Royal Australia Navy, or assisted the war effort by other means. The school did not operate during this time, and all "white women" were evacuated in 1942.

Around 1974, control of the mission was passed to the Yirrkala Dhanbul Community Association, and it was no longer was operated as a mission thereafter.{{cite web | title=Yirrkala Mission - Summary|first1= Gary| last1=George| first2=Karen| last2= George | website=Find & Connect | date= 8 May 2014 | url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/nt/YE00024 | access-date=7 June 2023| quote=Created: 7 February 2011, Last modified: 8 May 2014}}

{{see also|Aboriginal land rights in Australia|Native title in Australia|Yirrkala Church Panels}}

Yirrkala played a pivotal role in the development of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians when the document Bark Petition was created at Yirrkala in 1963 and sent to the Federal Government to protest the Prime Minister's announcement that a parcel of their land was to be sold to a bauxite mining company. Although the petition itself was unsuccessful in the sense that the bauxite mining at Nhulunbuy went ahead as planned, it alerted non-Indigenous Australians to the need for Indigenous representation in such decisions, and it prompted a government report recommending compensation payments, protection of sacred sites, creation of a permanent parliamentary standing committee to scrutinise developments at Yirrkala, and also acknowledgments of the Indigenous people's moral right to their lands. The Bark Petition is on display in the Parliament House in Canberra.{{cite web|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-did-104.html|title= Yirrkala bark petitions 1963 (Cth)|website= Documenting A Democracy|publisher=Museum of Australian Democracy|access-date = 16 July 2021}}

The settlement was funded as an outstation during the 1980s.{{cite book | title=Inquiry into the Aboriginal homelands movement in Australia|date=March 1987 | via=Parliament of Australia | url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/reports/1987/1987PP125report | author1=Parliament of Australia. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs| quote=Published online 12 June 2011|isbn=0-644-06201-0|first2=Allen|last2=Blanchard|publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service |author-link2=Allen Blanchard| access-date=16 August 2020}} [https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/house/committee/reports/1987/1987_pp125a.pdf PDF]

Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory,{{Cite web|url=http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=576|title=Yirrkala|website=NT Place Names Register|publisher=Northern Territory Government|access-date=14 October 2018}} {{convert|18|km}} southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land.{{cite web | title=On the Gove Peninsula | website=Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation | url=https://miwatj.com.au/dev/what-we-do/clinical-services/on-the-gove-peninsula/ | access-date=5 October 2020}}

As of {{year}} the East Arnhem Regional Council is the local government for Yirrkala, which is in the council's Gumurr Miwatj Ward. It consults with Yirrkala Mala Leaders Association, consisting of 12 elected community members.{{cite web | title=Yirrkala in detail | website=East Arnhem Regional Council | url=https://www.eastarnhem.nt.gov.au/yirrkala-detailed | access-date=16 August 2020}}

The Northern Land Council is the land council to the community, responsible for matters under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.

At the {{CensusAU|2021}}, Yirrkala had a population of 657, of whom 79.8% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.[https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/UCL721016 "Yirrkala (L)"]. 2021 Census, All persons QuickStats Australian Bureau of Statistics. (n.d.).

File:火之祖靈努爾維力.jpg of Nureri the fire ancestor collected at Yirrkala]]

File:有身體彩繪的女祖靈.jpg

Yirrkala is home to a number of leading Indigenous artists, whose traditional Aboriginal art, particularly bark painting, can be found in art galleries around the world, and whose work frequently wins awards such as the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.{{Cite web|url=http://gallery.discoverymedia.com.au/artzinePub/story.asp?section=IndgRes|title=Art Right Now2 – IndgRes|website=gallery.discoverymedia.com.au|access-date=2018-11-16}} Their work is visible to the public at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre and Museum{{Cite web|url=https://yirrkala.com/yidaki-fibre-ceremonial-poles-bark-painting-sculptures/|title=Buku Art Centre|access-date=16 November 2018}} and also at the YBE art centre. Pioneer bark painters from this region who the National Museum of Australia consider old masters include Mithinarri Gurruwiwi, Birrikitji Gumana and Mawalan Marika.{{Cite book|title=Old masters : Australia's great bark artists|publisher=National Museum of Australia.|year = 2013|isbn=9781921953163|oclc=857187130}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/mawalan-marika/|title=Mawalan Marika |date=2017-10-18|website=Aboriginal Bark Paintings|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-22}}

It is also a traditional home of the Yidaki (didgeridoo), and some of the world's finest didgeridoos are still made at Yirrkala.

{{main|Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre}}

The Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, formerly Buku-Larrŋgay Arts, is a world-renowned art centre, with well-known artists such as Nyapanyapa Yunupingu based there.{{cite web | title=Coronavirus restrictions are easing, and now this NT gallery is marking two milestones |website= ABC News | publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=29 May 2020 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-30/exhibition-celebrates-arnhem-land-artist/12018280 | access-date=30 May 2020}} It is often referred to as Buku for short.{{cite web | title=Bark Ladies centres female Yolŋu artists | website=Art Guide Australia| first= Victoria |last=Perin | date=13 December 2021 | url=https://artguide.com.au/bark-ladies-centres-female-yolnu-artists/ | access-date=7 July 2022}}{{cite web| url=https://www.escape.com.au/destinations/australia/victoria/melbourne/bark-ladies-at-ngv-review-this-exhibition-will-knock-your-socks-off/news-story/e5c022b1f0e210e2fb9d55aea6af6362| website=Escape| title=Bark Ladies at NGV review: This exhibition will knock your socks off| first=Alison|last= Kubler| date= 19 February 2022 | access-date=7 July 2022}}

There is a stage called the Roy Marika Stage at the centre, which is used for the annual Yarrapay Festival. The festival's June 2021 iteration was directed by Witiyana Marika, and featured the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, Yothu Yindi, Yirrmal, and East Journey.{{ cite web|url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57c4ec18440243c931263a37/t/61de390dc724e10f0660f906/1641953617648/Rirratjingu+Aboriginal+Corporation+Annual+Report+20%EF%80%A221+FINAL+DK.pdf| page=15| author=Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporation| title= Annual Report 2021–2021| access-date=17 January 2022}}

The centre was established by local artists in the old Mission health centre in 1976, after the missionaries had left and as the Aboriginal land rights and Homeland movements gathered pace.{{cite web | title=Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka | website=Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre | url=https://yirrkala.com/buku-larrnggay-mulka/ | access-date=30 May 2020}}

The historic Yirrkala Church Panels were created in 1963 by Yolngu elders of the Dhuwa moiety (including Mawalan Marika, Wandjuk Marika and Mithinarri Gurruwiwi), who painted one sheet with their major ancestral narratives and clan designs, and eight elders of the Yirritja moiety, including Mungurrawuy Yunupingu, Birrikitji Gumana and Narritjin Maymuru, who painted the other sheet with Yirritja designs.{{cite journal | title=Marking Places, Cross-Hatching Worlds: The Yirrkala Panels| issue =111 | journal=E-flux Journal | date= September 2020 | url=https://www.e-flux.com/journal/111/345649/marking-places-cross-hatching-worlds-the-yirrkala-panels/ | access-date=5 July 2022}}{{cite web | title=Buku-Larrnggay Mulka (Yirrkala) | website=Lauraine Diggins Fine Art | url=https://www.diggins.com.au/artwork/aboriginal-main/buku-larrnggay-mulka/ | access-date=5 July 2022}} They were discarded by the church in 1974, but were salvaged by Buku-Larrnggay in 1978.{{cite web |author=Northern Myth| title=Yirrkala Church Panels: how pictures redrew indigenous history | website=Crikey | date=11 July 2013 | url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2013/07/11/yirrkala-church-panels-how-pictures-redrew-indigenous-history/ | access-date=5 July 2022}}

{{as of|2015}} it represented more than 300 artists from around the homelands, and exhibitions of work by the artists were being shown across Australia and internationally.{{cite web | title=Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre – sharing Yolgnu art with the world | website=Indigenous.gov.au | date=2 March 2015 | url=https://www.indigenous.gov.au/news-and-media/stories/buku-larrnggay-mulka-centre-%E2%80%93-sharing-yolgnu-art-world | access-date=6 April 2024}} {{as of|2020}}, the centre comprises two divisions: the Yirrkala Art Centre, which represents the artists exhibiting and selling contemporary art, and The Mulka Project, which incorporates the museum. It is known for its production of bark paintings, weaving in natural fibres, larrakitj (memorial poles), yidaki, and many other forms of art.{{cite web | title=Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre | website=Art Gallery of South Australia | url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/tarnanthi/tarnanthi-art-centres/buku-larrŋgay-mulka-centre-2020/ | access-date=6 July 2022}}

The centre has been a base for several major artists, including Gulumbu Yunupingu, Banduk Marika, Gunybi Ganambarr, Djambawa Marawili, and Yanggarriny Wunungmurra.{{cite web | title=Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program | website=Office for the Arts | date=18 February 2024 | url=https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/indigenous-visual-arts-industry-support-program | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315032407/https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/indigenous-visual-arts-industry-support-program | archive-date=15 March 2024 | url-status=live | access-date=6 April 2024}} Women artists who have worked at the centre include five sisters: Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu, Gulumbu Yunupingu, Barrupu Yunupingu, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, and Eunice Djerrkngu Yunupingu; as well as Dhuwarrwarr Marika; Malaluba Gumana; Naminapu Maymuru-White; Nonggirrnga Marawili; Dhambit Mununggurr; and Margaret Wirrpanda.{{cite web | title=Bark Ladies to open at NGV International | website=green magazine | date=18 August 2021 | url=https://greenmagazine.com.au/bark-ladies-to-open-at-ngv-international/ | access-date=7 July 2022}}

At Yirrkala School, formerly Yirrkala Community School, renamed "Yirrkala Community Education Centre" or "Yirrkala CEC" after it became a location of one of the trial Community Education Centres (CEC) in 1988,{{cite web | title=Yirrkala Community Education Centre | website=Adelaide Schools | url=https://www.adelaideschools.com/education/public-schools/nt/nhulunbuy/yirrkala-community-education-centre/39196 | access-date=27 July 2021}}{{ cite report| url=https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/pdf/human_rights/rural_remote/ntsub2.pdf| title=Education in the Yirrkala Area| quote=Nambara Schools Council Submission to the HREOC Rural and Remote Education Inquiry| date=1999| publisher= Nambara Schools Council| access-date=27 July 2021}} students undertake a method of bilingual studies dubbed "both ways", incorporating a cultural curriculum called Galtha Rom, meaning cultural lessons. Despite a 2009 Northern Territory Government order to teach English for the first four hours each day, the school continued to teach in its own way, with the child's first language, Yolngu Matha, taught alongside English. The method has proven effective against reducing the drop-out rate, and in 2020 eight students were the first in their community to graduate year 12 with scores enabling them to attend university. Yirrkala School and its sister school, Laynhapuy Homelands School, are now being looked to as models for learning in remote traditional communities.{{cite web | last=Masters | first=Emma | title=At Yirrkala School, bilingual education has become a model for remote Aboriginal learning | website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=11 July 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/nt-bilingual-school-arhem-land-aboriginal-learning/100272960 | access-date=16 July 2021}}

Artist and teacher-linguist Yalmay Marika Yunupingu, also known as Yalmay Yunupingu Marika (sometimes hyphenated){{cite web |title=Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press (CDU Press) |publication-place=Darwin |url=https://hdl.handle.net/10070/816699 |access-date=25 January 2024}} or just Yalmay Yunupingu (born {{circa|1955}}), is one member of the famous Marika family of north-east Arnhem Land, and is the daughter of artist Mathaman Marika{{cite web | title=The Marika family | website=National Museum of Australia | url=https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/yalangbara/marika-family | access-date=27 July 2021}} and the sister of artist, cultural leader and environmentalist Dr B Marika. She was married to former Yothu Yindi lead singer and educator Dr M Yunupingu (1956–2013).{{cite web | last=James | first=Felicity | title=Yolngu elder and bilingual educator Yalmay Yunupingu retires from Yirrkala school | website=ABC News| publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation| date=20 March 2023 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-20/nt-yalmay-yunupingu-retires-yirrkala-school/102099452 | access-date=21 March 2023}}

She has translated children's books into Yolngu Matha languages, and taught "both ways" bilingual education for her whole career, standing firm against Northern Territory Government policies which dictated that NT schools should teach only in the English language in 1998. This was despite the fact that Yirrkala School had been identified as the first to undergo bilingual accreditation in 1980, and bilingual students outperformed the non-bilingual students.{{cite web | last=Devlin | first=Brian | title=Government Support for NT Bilingual Education after 1950: A Longer Timeline | website=Friends of Bilingual Learning | date=12 November 2020 | url=https://fobl.net.au/index.php/au-KR/history/71-government-support-for-nt-bilingual-education-after-1950-a-longer-timeline }}

Yunupingu was appointed senior teacher at the school in 2004, and has often been called "mother of the school", and became known for her mentoring of other teachers.{{cite web | last=Kennelly | first=Shane | title=Yalmay Yunupingu: The Bilingual Warrior and Champion of Indigenous Education | website=Indigenous Employment Australia | date=2 August 2023 | url=https://atsijobs.com.au/yalmay-yunupingu-the-bilingual-warrior-and-champion-of-indigenous-education/ | access-date=25 January 2024}} She was awarded the Northern Territory Government's Teaching Excellence Award in the Remote Primary category for her work at Yirrkala, and her artwork has featured in exhibitions in Australia and the US. She has also been an honorary fellow at Charles Darwin University.{{cite web | title=Yalmay Yunupiŋu | website=Australian of the Year | url=https://australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/yalmay-yunupinu | access-date=25 January 2024}}

She retired in early 2023 after 40 years at the school, with family, friends, colleagues and other community members gathering to celebrate her contribution. Since retirement, she has been teaching traditional healing with bush medicines.

On 25 January 2024 she was announced as 2024 Senior Australian of the Year and travelled to Canberra to accept the award.{{cite web | last=Gore | first=Charlotte | title=Melanoma researchers Richard Scolyer and Georgina Long named joint 2024 Australians of the Year | website=ABC News | date=25 January 2024 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-25/australian-of-the-year-2024-winners-announced/103389556 | access-date=25 January 2024| quote=...the 68-year-old has been teaching the next generation about traditional healing since her retirement.}}

File:Macassan stone arrangement.jpg

Yirrkala has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Wurrwurrwuy stone arrangements{{cite AHD|106088|Wurrwurrwuy|fn=7/04/004/0008|access-date=13 October 2018}}

{{see also|Marika#Family}}

• Timmy Burarrwanga, businessman and cultural leader
• Raphael Clarke (1985-), Australian rules footballer
• Gatjil Djerrkura (1949–2004), ceremonial leader
• Nathan Djerrkura (1988–), Australian rules footballer
• Nonggirrnga Marawili (c.1938), painter
• Banduk Marika (1954–2021), artist
• Kathy Balngayngu Marika (1957–), dancer
• Raymattja Marika (c.1959–2008), scholar, educator, linguist and cultural advocate
• Roy Marika (1925–1993), councillor and artist
• Wandjuk Marika (1927–1987), artist, actor, Indigenous rights activist
• Yirrmal Marika (1993–), Australian singer
• Maminydjama Maymuru (1997–), model
• Wukun Wanambi
• Kwame Yeboah (born 1994 in Yirrkala), professional soccer player for the Western Sydney Wanderers
• Yothu Yindi (1986–2000), rock band
• Galarrwuy Yunupingu (1948–2023), land rights activist and chair, Northern Land Council
• Mandawuy Yunupingu (1956–2013), musician and educator
• Nyapanyapa Yunupingu (c.1945–2021), painter

{{reflist}}

• Fitzgerald, M. (2022). "[https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.350517787745576 Mirrored realms: The bark ladies of Yirrkala]". Art Monthly Australasia, (331), 86–91.
• {{cite thesis| title=Printmaking by Yolngu artists of Northeast Arnhem Land: 'Another way of telling our stories'|first=Denise Yvonne |last=Salvestro| type=PhD| date=April 2016| publisher= Australian National University}}

{{Localities and communities of the East Arnhem Region|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Arnhem Land

Category:Towns in the Northern Territory

Category:Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory