Google Doodle praises the 64th birthday celebration of an Aboriginal Australian musician, civil rights activist, and teacher Mandawuy Yunupingu on September 17, 2020.
Here’s a look at the life and work of Aboriginal Australian musician Mandawuy Yunupingu.
Personal
- Birth name: Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu
- Birthdate: 17 September 1956
- Birthplace: Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Australia
- Died on: 2 June 2013 (aged 56)
- Death place: Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Australia
- Father name: Munggurrawuy Yunupingu
- Mother name: Makurrngu
- Birth Sign: Virgo
- Nationality: Australian
- Education:
- Queensland University of Technology
- Deakin University
- Known for: Musician, school principal
- Notable awards:
- Australian of the Year (1992)
- Centenary Medal (2001)
- Companion of the Order of Australia (2012)
Interesting Facts about Mandawuy Yunupingu
- Mandawuy Yunupingu was an Aboriginal Australian musician and educator.
- Yunupingu was born as Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu in 1956 to Munggurrawuy Yunupingu , a Gumatj clan leader and artist and Makurrngu – one of Munggurrawuy’s 12 spouses – was an member of the Galpu clan.
- His skin name was Gudjuk, yet his name was changed to Mandawuy in 1990 when a relative with a similar name passed on, in accordance with Yolngu custom.
- Mandawuy Yunupingu was a lead singer of popular Australian indigenous band, Yothu Yindi.
- In 1986 he started the band, Yothu Yindi.
- Mandawuy Yunupingu named his popular band Yothu Yindi, in light of the fact that it signifies ‘Child and Mother’ in his native tongue, Gumatj.
- He worked with Andrew Farriss, of INXS, to create the most recent Yothu Yindi album.
- In 1983, Mandawuy Yunupingu published “Outstation Schools at Yirrkala” in Aboriginal Child at School, where he portrayed the advantages to indigenous individuals.
- In 1987, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in education from Deakin University, before getting back to Yirrkala to educate.
- In March 1987 Mandawuy Yunupinguadded to the book, Educational requirements of the Homelands Centers of the L̲aynhapuy Region, North East Arnhem Land : report of the Balanga ̲na Project : a Schools Commission Project of national significance.
- By 1988 Yothu Yindi had toured Australia and North America supporting Midnight Oil.
- Mandawuy Yunupingu was the first Aboriginal to become a principal of a school in Australia, at Yirrkala in the Northern Territory in 1989.
- He has worked hard to have Aboriginal individuals and different Australians cooperate and to be all the more amicable towards one another.
- Mandawuy Yunupingu and the band built up the Yothu Yindi Foundation in 1990 and since 1999 promoted the annual Garma Festival.
- In 1992, he was made Australian of the Year for his work in improving comprehension between Australians.
- Mandawuy Yunupingu named as Australian of the Year in 1992 by the National Australia Day Council.
- He had six daughters with his wife, Gatjilayngu.
- In April 1998, Mandawuy Yunupingu was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Queensland University of Technology.
- On 1 January 2001, Yunupingu awarded the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society through music.
- With his band ‘Yothu Yindi’, is supporting Carlos Santana on his tour around Australia. [March 2003]
- The band was drafted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2012.
- Mandawuy Yunupingu passed on 2 June 2013, aged 56 after a long fight with kidney disease.
- On September 17, 2020, Google celebrates Mandawuy Yunupingu’s 64th Birthday with Doodle.
