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request of an associate, Burrumarra moved to Galiwin’ku to help with establishing the new mission. There he
married Lawuk of the Galpu clan, and raised a family. He was closely associated with the missionary Reverend
Harold Shepherdson, and often led the prayers on a Sunday morning.
Burrumarra was the first teacher at both Yirrkala and Galiwin’ku, a health educator, and Chairman of the
Galiwin’ku Village Council and Mala (Clan) Leaders Association. He travelled around the country in the 1960s
encouraging people to enrol for the vote and was involved in the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Studies from its inception.
A progressive thinker and self-starter, Burrumarra was the first Aboriginal person in Arnhem Land to own
a typewriter. In the 1940s, for a small fee he would type correspondence, a novel event in the early days of the
mission.
Burrumarra always followed the wishes of his people. He wanted tourist developments and mining on Aboriginal
land, but only if Aborigines were in control. While in the 1950s he had initiated inquiries about bauxite mining in
the Wessel Islands and had support for a proposal in which Aborigines would own a 25% share, he protested the
opening of the mine at Gove because there was no sense of partnership in the endeavour.
In recognition of his services to Aboriginal people, in 1978 he was awarded Membership of the Order of
the British Empire (MBE) in a ceremony at Elcho Island, attended by the then Governor General, Sir Zelman
Cowan. In line with Burrumarra’s philosophy the ceremony was part traditional Aboriginal ceremony, and part
state ceremony. Visiting government dignitaries, who included everyone who was anyone in terms of Northern
Territory protocol, wore full-length golden kaftans designed by Burrumarra, featuring the sacred whale and
lightning symbols of his Warramiri clan.
Some people described Burrumarra as an eccentric genius, while others saw him as quixotic. At times he
would dress up in military costume and show off his various medals. Protected from the sun by his pith helmet, he
would parade around the community, gazing into crowds with his binoculars, his loud speaker blaring. He had a
mission. He was firm in the belief in his own destiny and determined that Aborigines would run their own affairs on
their own lands. He believed Aborigines must be lawyers, doctors and teachers. They would then be in a stronger
position to maintain the sacred laws and ceremonies of the land. Anything less than this was unacceptable to him.
His life straddled two worlds. Intensive work with anthropologists such as Ronald Berndt and Donald Thomson
was so that the world might know of the richness of Aboriginal culture. To this end, in 1992, he donated a series
of Warramiri paintings to the University of New South Wales, so that academics would understand and recognise
the depth of experience and emotion contained within each brush stroke. For Burrumarra, knowledge was
‘his backbone’. He was a student of the land and the sea. They provided the answers to all of his questions and he
wanted to share this knowledge of Australia with others.
Of Burrumarra’s life, a prominent Australian prehistorian, Professor John Mulvaney said: ‘Burrumarra
played a significant part in attempting to reconcile the old traditional culture and beliefs with introduced ways
of life following the war, and with Christianity... Burrumarra deserves great credit for his attempts to represent
traditional people and to present the case for the retention of traditional culture while yet attempting to adapt
to the inevitable changes introduced by white Australians... He has played an important role as a moderate,
spiritual man whom future generations will honour. Like Lazarus Lamilami, Burrumarra was a professional
informant... Many contemporary militants condemn anthropologists for ‘ripping off’ Aboriginal people. In fact
however, such Aboriginal informants and the anthropologists who listened to them have assisted the interpretation
and understanding of Aboriginal culture by white Australians and all overseas peoples. It is likely that future
generations of Aboriginal people, for whom traditional life has become less familiar, will come to acknowledge
their debt to such men’.
David Burrumarra died at Elcho Island in northeast Arnhem Land on 13 October 1994. He was 77 years of age.
His funeral was one of the biggest ever held at Elcho Island. Seven children, four sons and three daughters survived
Burrumarra. One of his sons is the acclaimed artist Terry Yumbulul, and he was also the adoptive father of Territory
politician, Wes Lanhupuy, who died in 1995.
Burrumarra was often referred to as the last great leader of Arnhem Land. A tall stately figure, he was a man
of extraordinary talents. He was polite and well mannered to his friends but short and direct with those lower in
his estimations. He never touched alcohol in his life and criticised anyone who did. His vast local knowledge and
ability to captivate an audience with his wit and charm usually meant that his views would go unchallenged in any
debate.
C Barrett, Coast of Adventure, 1941; D Burrumarra in I R Yule (ed) My Mother the Land, 1980; D Burrumarra, Dhawal’yuwa Yuwalku, Elcho
Island, 1988; R M Berndt, An Adjustment Movement in Arnhem Land, 1962; J Cawte, The Universe of the Warramirri, 1993; W S Chaseling,
Yulengor, 1957; A P Elkin, R M & C H Berndt, Art in Arnhemland, 1950; F Hodgkinson, Kakadu and the Arnhemlanders, 1987; I S McIntosh,
The Whale and the Cross, 1994, ‘The Bricoleur at Work’, Master of Letters in Aboriginal Studies Thesis, University of New England, 1992;
D J Mulvaney, letter to author; K Palmer & M Brady, Aboriginal Rights to Land in the Wessel Archipelago, 1983; Paul Hamlyn Pty Ltd,
Notable Australians, 1978; E Shepherdson, Half a Century in Arnhem Land, 1981; H Thornell, A Bridge over Time, 1986; N Williams, The
Yolngu and Their Land, 1986.
IAN McINTOSH, Vol 3.BUTLER, MERCIA nee ROBERTS (1933–1990), Catholic nun and health worker, was born at Roper River
Mission on 24 December 1933, the youngest of four children of Barnabas and Norah Roberts. Mrs Buckle delivered
her at the mission medical centre; two other babies were also born that day. Although the mission records were
destroyed in a flood, Mercia later had a crosscheck for her birthday. Her father Barnabas Roberts was a senior
member of the Alawa tribe and her brothers, Philip, Silas and Jacob all became men of distinction.