Yalmay Yunupiŋgu is described as generous, gentle and funny by those who know her and now, as the 2024 Senior Australian of the Year, her impressive achievements have been recognised with one of the country’s top honours by the National Australia Day Council.
The linguist, teacher and community leader has touched the lives of many people in north-east Arnhem Land, where she guided teaching at Yirrkala Bilingual School for four decades, before retiring in March 2023.
Often called the mother of the school, Ms Yunupingu started by translating Dr Seuss books at the community library into her local Yolŋu Matha language. She then qualified as a teacher and, with her husband (the late Dr M Yunupiŋgu of Yothu Yindi fame and the 1992 Australian of the Year), forged a bilingual teaching approach to nurture stronger connections between young people and their Yolŋu culture and language.
Celebrating a ‘Teacher of Excellence’
In 2005, she was awarded a ‘Teacher of Excellence’ by the Northern Territory Department of Education and was an Honorary University Fellow at Charles Darwin University (CDU). Ms Yunupingu’s committed dedication to the education of the Yolŋu people, her cultural stewardship and leadership as a natural teacher continues to bring communities together.
“I became a teaching specialist in both worlds to benefit my people and community, but also to support non-Indigenous people to understand the real meaning of education in both worlds,” she said as she accepted her award in Canberra.
“It wasn’t always easy, with lots of ups and downs, but it was my passion for education that kept me going.”
Today, the 68-year-old is a respected elder who is in constant demand for consultations, projects and her traditional healing work.
“Too many of our people are diagnosed with chronic preventable diseases such as kidney failure, heart disease, cancer, and many more illnesses. Our people are sick and dying, young and old,” she says.
“Unfortunately, Western medicine is not working on its own [so] we need to marry both worlds of healing. We need to understand and respect the power of Yolŋu healing.”
