Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on indulgence to acknowledge the death on 25 July of Dr G Yunupingu, one of the most important figures in Australia's music history. I place on record the House's appreciation of his contribution to the arts, and I tender our profound sympathy to his family and the Galiwinku community in their bereavement. Dr G Yunupingu was a Gumatj man from Elcho Island, the remote island in north-east Arnhem Land.

He began experimenting with music as a small child, when his aunt and his mother placed sticks in his hands so he could hit the empty can set up in front of him along the shore. When his uncle put a guitar in his hands, it set free a once-in-a-generation talent, a startlingly beautiful voice that would weave its way into the hearts and souls of millions.

Dr G Yunupingu established his early career performing alongside family members in Yothu Yindi. His eponymous 2008 triple platinum solo album brought his Yolngu Matha language to the world. He won a swathe of ARIA and Deadly awards, and in 2009 was named Northern Territory Australian of the Year. He soon joined a select group of musicians to have performed for the Queen, the Pope and a US President. In 2012 Dr G Yunupingu was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Sydney.

So many have been touched by his voice and his music. We heard recently of a distressed fellow renal patient who was calmed when Dr G began singing from his nearby hospital bed. But his mark on this country extends beyond the beauty of his music. Lucy and I were honoured to be at Garma Festival on the weekend with a number of other colleagues here in the House and our families. His uncle, Dr Yunupingu's Uncle Djunga Djunga spoke of Dr G Yunupingu's music, which aimed to create reconciliation with Indigenous people. Many of us have not understood the beauty and the significance of our First Australians' languages. Dr G Yunupingu opened our minds and our hearts to them. Many of us have been indifferent to the ancient Indigenous cultures of our First Australians, the most ancient human cultures. Dr G Yunupingu helped us understand them.

Many of us did not know perhaps that today's First Australians share a spiritual connection to their ancestors through their music, their language and culture. Dr G Yunupingu showed all of us this truth. He brought the Yolngu language to the world—ancient words—as often in poetry as prose. And by 'poetry' I mean that which is lost in translation—words of enormous power and significance. We heard those words and many words like that at Garma this year. As the Gumatj leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu reminded us at Garma, those ancient words—the most ancient words—are Australian words. They are Australian words.

So to all of Dr G Yunupingu's family and to all in the musical and broader Australian community who mourn his loss, I offer on behalf of our parliament and our people our most sincere condolences.

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