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#video #Australian Story - Season 31 - Episode 05: Morning Star - Witiyana Marika
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00:15Hello.
00:17Wittiana Marika is both a rock star and one of Australia's most respected Indigenous leaders.
00:24He's from Yakala in the Northern Territory, famous for its incredible art as well as its major role in Australia's
00:32land rights history.
00:34Wittiana was a founding member of the legendary band Yothu Yindi and living a rock and roll lifestyle.
00:41But when his community called, he stepped up.
00:55Wittiana has always been a natural performer. It's in his blood, it's in his DNA.
01:03Your eyes are drawn to him.
01:11When I first met Wittiana Marika, he was young and handsome and all the women were chasing him.
01:16And I thought, wow, how's this guy going to settle down at home and really get serious around traditional law
01:22and all that?
01:26Wittiana transformed from the dreadlocked superstar rock star into a leader of his people.
01:38He looked at himself that he's ready to do this.
01:43He can do anything. That's the kind of leadership that he carries now.
01:51He's an archbishop. He's a high court judge. He's a professor. He's a counsellor. He's like a Lord Mayor. And
02:00he also happens to be a rock star.
02:06Good evening, everyone. How are we doing? Good.
02:10My mom.
02:13Wittiana means Morning Star.
02:15So, the night that Wittiana was born, his father's brother had a dream.
02:20And the dream was this young boy coming towards Wittiana's father with a little white flower, which was a star.
02:29You think about that, a star was born that night, Wittiana Marika.
02:34that's the star that i am so i want to be a star film star rock star and the star
02:43of my birth
02:44i mean for coming a real star
03:04wittiana grew up in the community of yukala in northeast arnhem land it's an incredibly remote
03:10part of australia on the eastern edge of the northern territory yukala is the home of the
03:17yungul people there are 13 clan groups wittiana was born into the rita chingu clan
03:311961 that was the year that i was born here in rilakala
03:40the beginning of becoming a song man mom told us that dad used to sing into that belly maybe
03:50two or three months pregnant the special message that you are going to listen this song when you
04:00will be born you'll be already prepared it'll be in your system
04:11this is a place that i spent a lot of time when i was a boy
04:15a paradise away from distraction and only you and the nature and the spirit of the land
04:26we didn't learn the songs from dad by sitting next to and clapping with his clapsticks and just
04:33following the lyrics and the words you know when the old man say hang on you're you're really good
04:42you're going to be a song man don't be shy put your voice out there
04:49we have to keep those song lines it's a literature on its own
05:00so it has to be kept alive and maintained by song men like him
05:08the beach at gove was just like any other beach along the coast but inland the soil was different
05:13it was bright red it proved to be bauxite aluminium oxide and the white man came to go
05:23overshadowing all of wittiana's childhood was the struggle against a huge mine which was threatened to
05:29be built on the gove peninsula effectively destroying the lifestyle that was so beautiful
05:37in this pristine gorgeous place
05:43one of the people who became an incredibly important spokesperson
05:47for the opposition to the mine was widiana's father roy marika mbe leader of the yirukala and a leader
05:57of australia's aboriginals the man who is in the very center of that hot political issue land rights
06:03for aboriginals we like people to come if the people and aborigines can make agreement each other
06:30the people of yirukala have protested to the federal government about the project
06:40so the elders came together to create a bark petition to send to canberra to tell the politicians
06:48that they wanted to have a voice in determining what was going to happen on their land but the
06:54yirukal people's views were ignored in 1971 the first inhabitants fought back in a court case
07:01the elders continued to prosecute the case that this was their land but instead of prosecuting it through
07:07the parliament they prosecuted it through the courts in the end justice blackburn found that the yirukal
07:15people had no native title claim over their land in british law and the mine went ahead
07:28it was a terrible moment and broken my father's heart my grandfather and all the clan it was just
07:43devastating you know this is the first place that miners came in and destroyed the site first the sacred
07:59point where rituals start here this is the place where my ancestors stood and my next generation where they
08:20were going to say we're going to stand here tall and talk tall and proud and strong
08:29when whitiana was a teenager his dad sent him down south to melbourne to be a part of a dance
08:36troupe to
08:36basically teach his culture his language and his dancing to school groups across victoria
08:45and he saw it as an opportunity to learn the ways of the western world
08:52he spoke 13 clan languages but he hardly even spoke english at that point
08:59so i thought myself i'm gonna learn english i'm gonna talk like a white man for the good of myself
09:08and
09:08for the people of yirukala to learn and stand and fight back
09:16special award
09:19with yana's uncle was manduwa yunapingu a school teacher in yirukala who would rise to become principal
09:28he was also an up-and-coming musician who wanted to go places
09:35and he was very talented and they might be able to grow something together
09:45yeah manduwa he saw me dancing and he chose me he's the one who chose me and he told me
09:51i'm going to
09:52form a band oh yeah you know we want to change this world instead of singing in english we can
10:02blend english and yule
10:11what a crazy idea
10:18they started writing songs and singing and we'd sit around and just listen to them sing
10:24reflections in the water i see
10:28they thought they were a little small band until somebody heard it and said why don't we record
11:03this
11:09I was the guy who made all the early Yothi indie videos.
11:17We used to call him the Black Elvis.
11:18He's got all of the tribal moves, but he's got this swagger,
11:22he's got this Elvis thing going on that he just mixes in at the right time
11:27and brings it right up front, and the audience just love it.
11:41And they started writing a little song, Treaty.
11:46Everyone loved that song when it came out.
11:50Everyone played the same song over and over and over.
11:57When Yothi indie put out Treaty, everything suddenly exploded.
12:02They went from being a backyard band in Yukala
12:05to being a household name across Australia.
12:08CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
12:11Yothi indie.
12:13Yothi indie.
12:13Yothi indie.
12:15Their songs started to race up the charts,
12:18not just in Australia but in other countries too.
12:21OK, this is Yothi indie. DC, check this out.
12:23You're going to enjoy this.
12:29Preeti was the first time that a song,
12:31essentially about Yolngo rights, Aboriginal rights,
12:34was in the mainstream.
12:38My life just changed,
12:40and I was becoming a famous Yolngo rock star.
12:47And that puts us up there,
12:51the top of the world.
12:58Rock and rolls.
12:59You know, there's alcohol, there's drugs,
13:00there's just day in, day out,
13:02you travel, you perform.
13:04And it took its toll.
13:05It took its toll on Whittian,
13:07it took its toll on Munda.
13:10I was drinking too much sometimes.
13:13It was bad to my body.
13:16It was just ruining my talent.
13:22I was really sad.
13:25While I was doing that,
13:27my father was very, very ill.
13:31And I could feel his energy
13:35that he was calling me home.
13:38Come back, my son.
13:40Come back.
13:46Wittianna was driving his car
13:47out towards the remote community of Ramangining,
13:50and Wittianna's young son was in the car.
13:55There was alcohol.
13:58We came into Kapo Yap,
14:02bending sharp corner, full speed.
14:06We was going around the corner,
14:08and then bang.
14:11We just hit the side of the road,
14:14and then flipped.
14:16The car flipped.
14:18One, two, three, four, five.
14:24He struck me here.
14:27It was pretty bad.
14:29We thought we were going to lose them both.
14:36And it was the biggest wake-up call of his life,
14:39because he realised he wasn't going to live
14:41if he kept it up,
14:43and he was hurting other people.
14:45And that's when he said,
14:47no more drinking.
14:49I'm going to be an elder.
14:54It was time to come back home
14:56and be a leader,
14:58to step into my father's footstep.
15:02Dad said, come home.
15:05Come back to the land.
15:06Come back to the songs.
15:07Come back to the culture.
15:09And that's what he did.
15:12He decided to leave the band.
15:15He came home to work with his father,
15:17who was then, yeah, getting on in age,
15:20and he wasn't sure how long he was going to be around,
15:23to get from him as much as possible,
15:25learn from him as much as possible,
15:27before his father died.
15:31One of the founding fathers of the land rights movement
15:34has died at the age of 67.
15:36My father passed away in 1993.
15:43His father's voice still rings in his ears,
15:47that he wants him to carry on his role
15:51and to be a person that brings people together.
15:57Brings reconciliation.
16:00Brings harmony.
16:03A real leader.
16:15Today is a happy, sad day.
16:20It's a memorial for my twin brother.
16:24A time to reflect about his life and journey.
16:30Widiyana was called upon basically for everything
16:33around his community.
16:34Welcoming ceremonies.
16:36And every funeral.
16:38Welcome.
16:39Welcome.
16:40Welcome.
16:41People that came in today
16:45from my brother's memorial.
16:49He's the person who's comforting the woman
16:51who's lost her child.
16:53He's there in the middle of the night
16:56when someone has been run over.
16:57Widiyana will appear with his clapsticks.
17:00He's like a spiritual ambulance, if you like.
17:12Every now and then, tensions within the community erupt.
17:17Everyone's shouting at each other and there's sort of violence going on.
17:21You see Widiyana, you just start with the clapsticks.
17:26And he walks straight through the middle of these scenes
17:30as he's got a force field around him.
17:32And slowly things subdue and Widiyana will just walk up,
17:37take them by the hand, remove the weapon,
17:40put his arm around him and walk him off.
17:44He's leading the whole show in the community.
17:48Widiyana is really a peacemaker.
17:58Being a strong man is hard.
18:01It takes time.
18:04It takes wisdom.
18:05It takes knowledge.
18:12These ceremony leaders are really, from a cultural perspective,
18:15the top of the pile in the community.
18:17They're the most important people.
18:22It's not a job that pays a regular wage, of course.
18:26But without that, your son won't get initiated.
18:29Without that, you can't bury a family member that's deceased.
18:36Widiyana's role as a ceremonial leader is well respected amongst all the clans.
18:44His portfolio amongst the clan that he leads would be the spiritual health of the land and its people.
18:58Widiyana appears to be walking in both worlds very effectively these days.
19:03So he's managing to maintain his important ceremonial role,
19:08whilst going off and performing in a band,
19:11whilst going off and being a star in a film.
19:17I was making a film called High Ground, which he was helping me produce,
19:21and I thought he could play an important part in that film.
19:28It's a story that tracks a period in our history of the frontier wars and the massacres,
19:34and how the families stood up in the face of adversity and fought.
19:47There's an old man in the film who's the elder, the leader,
19:52and Widiyana stood up.
19:53And it was kind of like he was born to do it.
20:02He wants to know what law you're talking about.
20:06What?
20:07It was my first acting role,
20:10and I haven't been to a school or whatever, you know?
20:16Nah.
20:17It's just natural.
20:19Just right there, bang.
20:21By the power and knowledge and spirituality.
20:27This is my law.
20:30It come from the soil, from Mother Earth.
20:33You come from across the sea.
20:35I understand balance.
20:38But in this country...
20:39My country.
20:41So High Ground, in a sense, is about the resistance.
20:45And the resistance goes on to this day.
20:49Prominent Gumarch leader, Galaroy Yunupingu,
20:51says he plans to lodge a native title compensation claim
20:55over bookside mining land in Gove within months.
20:59Over 50 years after,
21:03all of the hubbub around the establishment of the mine,
21:06the bark petitions,
21:09we're back in the courts with a huge case
21:12claiming that the Yawngal people were dispossessed
21:16without just terms.
21:20The case will hear arguments about whether Yawngal people
21:23have a right to compensation.
21:25The court claim wound through the courts for some years
21:29and then it finally made its way to the highest court in the land.
21:34And the opening of that High Court session is incredible.
21:40A whole group of Yawngal people, men and women,
21:45from different clans, come to the opening of that court session.
21:50And Wilyana sat there with his brothers every day
21:52during the High Court case
21:54and he'd lead them in every morning with his Belmer and so on.
22:04Traditional owners in the Northern Territory
22:06have had a significant win in the High Court
22:09in a landmark case over native title rights.
22:14The High Court decided that the land hadn't been acquired
22:17on just terms and compensation was owed.
22:21It could be a huge amount of money.
22:23The original claim is for over half a billion dollars,
22:26but it's back to the Federal Court now to determine that.
22:31My father, he would have been the happiest man alive, you know,
22:36when he would have been here today
22:40for winning the case.
22:45While Wilyana was trying to navigate
22:47this incredibly difficult court process,
22:51at the same time he was struggling with his health.
22:57I was in pain and I had blood tests.
23:02I realised that I had a problem with my heart.
23:07Your, your bowel is not pumping properly.
23:10It was serious, it was serious.
23:12I could die any time, you know.
23:16He was almost skeletal,
23:18like he'd driven himself way past any medical barrier.
23:21He was running on not even fumes.
23:24And just doing his ceremonial obligations
23:27until he collapsed, as I recall.
23:30And, um, yeah, it wasn't looking good.
23:32And then one day he came to me and Wilyana and said,
23:37Oh, they want me to go to Adelaide
23:40and have this really big open heart surgery.
23:44And he said, I don't want to.
23:49I was afraid I would die then.
23:53Everyone told me that, you must go, you must go.
23:57We want your life.
23:58Just go.
24:01They will help you, those heart surgeons.
24:04Because we need you.
24:06We need you.
24:08This community needs you.
24:09And then, he hugged us.
24:13And said, we're going.
24:15I'm going.
24:18Today, we are now standing on sacred ground.
24:29My circuit fixed my heart.
24:33It's thunder hard now.
24:39I can dance and I can sing out and run.
24:48It changed him.
24:50When he came back, he was, like, full of energy.
24:54That he said, now I'm going to step out there into the community
24:58and step out and just take care of this community.
25:02Good morning, everyone.
25:06Good morning.
25:06My families.
25:08My board.
25:10Widiyana's role is becoming increasingly important
25:14in the sense that people are growing old, people are passing away
25:19and Widiyana is stepping up.
25:22Only Umara and Bilma.
25:24Power.
25:25One would hope that he'll get to the point
25:28where he is taking over his father's position
25:31as the leader of the Riddichingled clan.
25:40So, over the next few years,
25:42there's some fairly complex issues we need to get through.
25:45He's got a massive, important role to play.
25:47And I think because of Widiyana's ability to work in two worlds,
25:51he's actually going to be a major part of how we do move forward.
25:57Raya Tinto have said to us that they're going to close the mine in 2029,
26:02but at that point in time, the royalties stop.
26:07The town will lose its main current employer.
26:11When the compensation's finally paid out,
26:13there could be rivalries, there could be some contention
26:17about where that money is going to go
26:19and if it's being distributed to the right people
26:23in the right clan groups.
26:26I would like to bring the clans together.
26:29I want to bring them back as being one people and being unity.
26:34There's a better way to live in harmony
26:38instead of fighting, fighting, fighting,
26:41because I want to be a leader and a good leader.
26:44I want to be a leader.
26:45You know?
26:46I want to be a leader.
26:48I want to be a leader.
26:53I want to be a leader.
26:54I want to be a leader.
26:54So 2025, Yothi Indi's back.
26:57Mandawai passed away in 2013,
26:592013 and so we're now working on what we're calling a multi-generational band and I'm 64 but I'm still
27:06I'm flying across the stage
27:09We didn't do any shows for quite some time
27:12They then finally
27:14reformed the band and and Wittiana was a big part of doing that
27:35Mind away when he's still alive
27:38He would always think that he wants the youth indie band to continue
27:44That was his legacy and I think he'd be proud of Wittiana today to be continuing that legacy
27:56Wittiana gets up there and kind of leads the show now he's the front man in that way because everyone
28:02knows that he's the original
28:20But two grandkids
28:23This is girl
28:26And a boy two twins
28:31Look, it's absolutely amazing that Wittiana Marika is still alive today with the things that he's had against him
28:40He was never meant to
28:44Die or disappear
28:47He was just meant to be here and to love you to color and its people
28:54It's a crazy wild ride from this incredible dreadlocked rock star into
29:02Incredibly important cultural leader
29:05That was always in him. That is what his father wanted him to be
29:10And I think his dad would be really proud
29:14Fish
29:16Coming up
29:18We're the oldest culture on earth today
29:22couple
29:23Tell me tell me you know always was and always will be
29:28We're here
29:30We're here and we will be here forever
29:43oh
29:43Oh, oh, baby
29:48Oh
29:49Oh
29:54Yeah!
29:55Yeah!
30:11Yeah!!
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