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Australian Story - Season 31 - Episode 05: Morning Star - Witiyana Marika
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00:15Hello, Wittiana Marika is both a rock star and one of Australia's most respected Indigenous
00:23leaders. He's from Yakala in the Northern Territory, famous for its incredible art as well as its major
00:30role in Australia's land rights history. Wittiana was a founding member of the legendary band Yothu
00:38Yindi and living a rock and roll lifestyle but 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. Your eyes are drawn to
01:05him.
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 gonna settle down at home and really get serious around traditional
01:21the law and all that. Wittiana transformed from you know the dreadlocked superstar rock star into
01:31a leader of his people.
01:38He looked at himself that he's ready to do this. He can do anything. That's the kind of leadership
01:46that he carries now. He's an archbishop, he's a high court judge, he's a professor, he's a counsellor,
01:56he's like a lord mayor and he also happens to be a rock star.
02:06Good evening everyone.
02:09How are we doing?
02:13Wittiana means morning star. So the night that Wittiana was born
02:18his father's brother had a dream and the dream was this young boy coming towards Wittiana's father
02:25with a little white flower which was a star. You think about that, a star was born that night. Wittiana
02:32Marika.
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'm happy for becoming a real star.
03:04Wittiana grew up in the community of Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land.
03:08It's an incredibly remote part of Australia on the eastern edge of the Northern Territory.
03:16Yirrkala is the home of the Yungo people.
03:19There are 13 clan groups. Wittiana was born into the Riddichingu clan.
03:30In 1961, that was the year that I was born here in Yirrkala.
03:40The beginning of becoming a song man.
03:44Mum told us that Dad used to sing into that belly.
03:49Maybe two or three months pregnant.
03:53The special message that you are going to listen to this song.
03:59When you will be born, you'll be already prepared.
04:04They'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.
04:17Away 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.
04:37You know, when the old man say, hang on, 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.
05:07The beach at Gove was just like any other beach along the coast.
05:11But inland, the soil was different. It was bright red.
05:15It proved to be bauxite, aluminium oxide, and the white man came to go.
05:22Overshadowing all of Widiana's childhood was the struggle against a huge mine,
05:28which was threatened to be built on the Gove Peninsula.
05:34Overshadowing all of the people that were so beautiful in 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.
05:53Roy Marika, MBE, leader of the Yirukala and a leader of Australia's Aboriginals.
05:58The man who was in the very centre of that hot political issue, land rights for Aboriginals.
06:04We like people to come. If the people and Aborigines can make agreement with each other.
06:14He was a role model for me. He expected that I would one day be a leader.
06:21Watching that, and I think to myself, I'm going to be like him, to stand strong and fight for my
06:31people.
06:33The 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.
06:53But the Yirukala people's views were ignored.
06:57In 1971, the first inhabitants fought back in a court case.
07:01The elders continued to prosecute the case that this was their land.
07:05But instead of prosecuting it through the parliament, they prosecuted it through the courts.
07:11In the end, Justice Blackburn found that the Yirukala people had no native title claim
07:18over their land in British law. And the mine went ahead.
07:28It was a terrible moment.
07:33Broken my father's heart, my grandfather, and all the clans.
07:40It was just devastating, you know?
07:51This is the first place that miners came in and destroyed the site first,
07:59the sacred point where rituals start here.
08:10This is the place where my ancestors stood.
08:16And my next generation, where they were going to stand here tall and talk,
08:24tall and proud and strong.
08:29When Wittiana was a teenager, his dad sent him down south to Melbourne to be a part of a dance
08:36troupe to basically 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.
09:00So I thought to myself, I'm going to learn English.
09:03I'm going to talk like a white man for the good of myself and for the people of Yirukala.
09:11To learn and stand and fight back.
09:16I'm going to learn English.
09:17Special awards.
09:19Wittiana's uncle was Mandawai Yunupingu, a schoolteacher in Yirukala who would rise to become principal.
09:28He was also an up and coming musician who wanted to go places.
09:34Mandawai pretty early on clued onto the fact that Wittiana was very talented
09:38and they might be able to grow something together.
09:44Yeah, Mandawai saw me dancing and he chose me.
09:49He's the one who chose me.
09:50And he told me, I'm going to form a band.
09:55Oh yeah, you know, we want to change this world.
09:58Instead of singing in English, we can blend English and Yirukala.
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 this?
10:35Sharing the dreams of the red, black and gold
10:41We've done living now in the young hallway
10:46We're ready to go.
10:50We're ready to play.
10:52Wittiana was a really important part of the image of the band.
10:57So, he was a very good looking man, powerful stage presence, powerful voice.
11:03We're ready together.
11:05We're ready together.
11:06China!
11:07Go!
11:09I was the guy who made all the early Yothi Uni videos.
11:16We 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
11:24that 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, you know.
11:50Everyone played the same song over and over and over.
11:57When Yothi Indi put out Treaty, everything suddenly exploded.
12:02They went from being a backyard band in Yookala
12:05to being a household name across Australia.
12:12Yothi Indi.
12:13Yothi Indi.
12:15Their song started to race up the charts,
12:18not just in Australia, but in other countries too.
12:21OK, this is Yothi Indi. DC, check this out.
12:23You're going to enjoy this.
12:27This land was never given up.
12:29Preeti was the first time that a song,
12:31essentially about Yungal rights, Aboriginal rights,
12:34was in the mainstream.
12:38My life just changed,
12:40and I was becoming a famous Yungal rock star.
12:47And that put us up there,
12:50in the top of the world.
12:57Rock and rolls, you know, there's alcohol, there's drugs,
13:00there's just day in, day out, you travel, you perform.
13:04And it took its toll.
13:05It took its toll on Whittian, it 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.
13:46Whittianna was driving his car
13:47out towards the remote community of Ramengining,
13:50and Whittianna's young son was in the car.
13:55There was alcohol.
13:58We came into Gapuoyap,
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.
14:15The car flipped.
14:17One, two, three, four, five rolls.
14:25He struck me here.
14:27It was pretty bad.
14:29You know, we 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 and be a leader,
14:58to step into my father's footstep.
15:02Dad said, come home.
15:04Come back to the land,
15:06come back to the songs,
15:08come back to the culture,
15:09and that's what he did.
15:13He 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,
15:22to 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.
15:37My 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.
15:56You know, brings reconciliation.
15:59Um, brings harmony.
16:02A 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.
16:28Welcome.
16:39Welcome, welcome, people that came in today
16:45from my brother's memorial.
16:49He's the person who's comforting
16:50the woman who's lost her child.
16:54He's there in the middle of the night
16:55when someone has been run over.
16:57We're down at Willow Pier with his clapsticks.
17:00He's like a spiritual ambulance, if you like.
17:12Every now and then, tensions within the community erupt.
17:16Everyone's shouting at each other
17:18and there's a sort of violence going on.
17:21You'll see Widiana.
17:22You'll 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.
17:35And Widiana will just walk up,
17:37take them by the hand,
17:39remove the weapon,
17:41put his arm around him
17:42and walk him off.
17:44He's leading the whole show
17:45in the community.
17:48Widiana
17:48is 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,
18:14from 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,
18:27your son won't get initiated.
18:29Without that,
18:30you can't bury a family member that's deceased.
18:36Widiana's role as a ceremonial leader
18:38is well-respected amongst all the clans.
18:44His portfolio amongst the clan
18:47that he leads
18:49would be the spiritual health
18:51of the land and its people.
18:57Widiana appears to be walking
19:00in both worlds
19:01very effectively these days.
19:03So he's managing
19:05to maintain his important ceremonial role
19:08whilst going off
19:10and performing in a band,
19:11whilst going off
19:12and being a star in a film.
19:17I was making a film called High Ground,
19:20which he was helping me produce,
19:21and I thought he could play
19:23an important part in that film.
19:28It's a story that tracks
19:30a period in our history
19:31of the frontier wars
19:33and the massacres
19:34and how the families
19:36stood up
19:37in the face of adversity
19:39and fought.
19:47There's an old man in the film
19:49who's the elder,
19:51the leader,
19:51and Widiana stood up
19:53and it was
19:54kind of like he was
19:55born to do it.
19:57Your uncle
19:58has broken the law.
20:00Nah, Rom!
20:02He wants to know
20:03what law you're talking about.
20:05What?
20:07It was my first
20:09acting role
20:10and I haven't been to
20:13a school
20:14or whatever,
20:15you know?
20:16Nah.
20:17It's just nettle.
20:19Just right there.
20:20Bang.
20:20Bang by the power
20:22and knowledge
20:23and spirituality.
20:27This is my law.
20:29It come from the soil,
20:31from other earth.
20:33Yours come from
20:34across the sea.
20:35I understand balance.
20:38But in this country...
20:39My country.
20:41So High Ground,
20:43in a sense,
20:44is about the resistance
20:45and the resistance
20:46goes on to this day.
20:49Prominent Gumach
20:50leader,
20:50Gulleroy Yunupingu,
20:52says he plans
20:53to lodge
20:53a native title
20:54compensation claim
20:55over Borkside mining land
20:57in Gove
20:58within months.
20:59Over 50 years
21:01after
21:02all of the hubbub
21:04around the establishment
21:05of the mine,
21:07the bark petitions,
21:09we're back in the courts
21:10with a huge case
21:12claiming that
21:14the Yorngal people
21:15were dispossessed
21:16without just terms.
21:20The case will hear arguments
21:22about whether
21:22Yorngal people
21:23have a right
21:24to compensation.
21:25The court claim
21:27wound through the courts
21:28for some years
21:28and then it finally
21:30made its way
21:30to the highest court
21:31in the land.
21:34And the opening
21:36of that high court
21:37session
21:38is incredible.
21:40A whole group
21:42of Yorngal people,
21:43men and women,
21:44from different clans
21:46come to the opening
21:47of that court session.
21:49And
21:50Wilyana sat there
21:51with his brothers
21:52every day
21:52during the high court case
21:54and he'd lead them
21:55in every morning
21:56with his billboard
21:56and song.
22:04Traditional owners
22:05in the Northern Territory
22:06have had a significant win
22:08in the high court
22:09in a landmark case
22:10over native title rights.
22:14The high court
22:15decided that
22:16the land
22:16hadn't been acquired
22:17on just terms
22:18and compensation
22:20was owed.
22:21It could be
22:21a huge amount
22:22of money.
22:23The original claim
22:24is for over
22:25half a billion dollars
22:26but it's back
22:27to the federal court
22:27now to determine
22:28that.
22:31My father,
22:33he would have been
22:33the happiest man
22:35alive
22:36when he
22:37would have been
22:38here today
22:39for winning
22:41the case.
22:45While Wilyana
22:46was trying
22:47to navigate
22:47this incredibly
22:49difficult court
22:50process,
22:51at the same time
22:52he was struggling
22:53with his health.
22:57I was in pain
22:58and I had
22:59blood tests.
23:02I realised
23:03that I had
23:04a problem
23:05with my heart.
23:07Your bowel
23:07is not pumping
23:09properly.
23:10It was serious.
23:11It was serious.
23:12I could die
23:13any time.
23:16He was
23:17almost skeletal.
23:18He'd driven himself
23:19way past
23:20any medical barrier.
23:21He was running
23:22on not even
23:23fumes
23:24and just
23:25doing his
23:25ceremonial obligations
23:27until he collapsed
23:28as I recall
23:29and yeah,
23:31it wasn't
23:32looking good.
23:32And then
23:33one day
23:34he came to me
23:35and Will
23:36and said
23:38they want me
23:39to go to Adelaide
23:40and have this
23:41really big
23:42open heart
23:43surgery
23:44and he said
23:45I don't want to.
23:49I was afraid
23:50I would die
23:51then.
23:53everyone told me
23:54that
23:55you must go
23:56you must go
23:57we want your life.
23:58Just go.
24:00They will help you
24:02those heart surgeons
24:03because we need you.
24:06We need you.
24:08This community
24:08needs you.
24:10He hugged us
24:13and said
24:14we're going.
24:15I'm going.
24:17today
24:18we are now
24:20standing
24:21on sacred ground.
24:29My circuit
24:30fixed my heart.
24:33It's
24:34thunder hard now.
24:40I can dance
24:41and I can sing
24:43hard and run.
24:48It changed him.
24:50When he came back
24:51he was like
24:52full of energy
24:54that he said
24:55now I'm going to
24:56step out there
24:57into the community
24:58and step out
24:59and just
25:00take care
25:01of this community.
25:03Good morning
25:05everyone.
25:06My families.
25:08My board.
25:10Widiana's role
25:11is becoming
25:12increasingly
25:13important
25:14in the sense
25:15that
25:15people are
25:17growing old
25:17people are
25:18passing away
25:19and Widiana
25:20is
25:20stepping up.
25:22Only Umara
25:23and Bilma
25:23power.
25:25One would hope
25:26that he'll get
25:27to the point
25:27where he
25:28is
25:29taking over
25:30his father's
25:30position
25:31as the leader
25:32of the
25:32Ritter Chingle clan.
25:40So over the next
25:41few years
25:42there's some
25:42fairly complex
25:43issues we need
25:44to get through.
25:44He's got a
25:45massive important
25:46role to play
25:46and I think
25:48because of
25:49Widiana's
25:49ability to work
25:50in two worlds
25:51he's actually
25:51going to be
25:52a major part
25:52of how we
25:54do move
25:56forward.
25:57Rio Tinto
25:58have said to
25:59us that
25:59they're going
26:00to close
26:00the mine
26:00in 2029
26:02but at that
26:03point in time
26:05the royalties
26:06stop.
26:07The town
26:07will lose
26:08its main
26:09current
26:09employer.
26:11When the
26:11compensation's
26:12finally paid
26:13out
26:13there could
26:14be rivalries
26:15there could
26:15be some
26:16contention
26:17about where
26:17that money
26:18is going
26:18to go
26:19and if
26:20it's being
26:20distributed
26:21to the
26:22right people
26:23in the
26:23right clan
26:23groups.
26:26I would
26:27like to
26:27bring
26:28the
26:28clans
26:29together
26:29I want
26:30to bring
26:30them back
26:31as being
26:32one people
26:32and being
26:33unity
26:34as a
26:35better way
26:35to live
26:37in harmony
26:38instead of
26:39fighting
26:39fighting
26:40fighting
26:41because I
26:42want to be
26:42a leader
26:43and a good
26:44leader
26:44you know.
26:53So 2025
26:55Yothi Indie
26:56is back
26:57Mandelwey
26:57passed away
26:58in 2013
26:59and so we're
27:00now working
27:01on what we're
27:02calling a
27:02multi-generational
27:03band.
27:03and I'm
27:0464
27:04but I'm
27:05still
27:06flying
27:07across the
27:07stage.
27:09We didn't
27:09do any
27:10shows for
27:10quite some
27:11time.
27:12They then
27:13finally
27:14reformed the
27:15band and
27:16Wittiana was
27:17a big part
27:17of doing
27:18that.
27:36Mandelwey
27:36when he's
27:37still alive
27:38he would
27:39always think
27:39that he
27:40wants the
27:41youth indie
27:42band to
27:42continue.
27:44That was
27:44his legacy.
27:45And I
27:46think he'd
27:46be proud of
27:47Wittiana
27:47today to
27:48be continuing
27:49that legacy.
27:56Wittiana
27:56gets up
27:57there and
27:57kind of
27:58leads the
27:58show now.
27:59He's the
27:59front man
28:00in that
28:00way because
28:01everyone knows
28:02that he's
28:03the original.
28:20got two grandkids.
28:24This is
28:24girl and a
28:28boy.
28:29Two twins.
28:31Look, it's
28:31absolutely amazing
28:32that Wittiana
28:33Marika is still
28:34alive today with
28:35the things that
28:36he's had against
28:36him.
28:40He was never
28:42meant to die or
28:45disappear.
28:47He was meant
28:48to be here
28:49and to love
28:50teller and
28:51his people.
28:54It's a crazy
28:55wild ride from
28:57this incredible
28:58dreadlocked rock
29:00star into
29:01incredibly important
29:03cultural leader.
29:04That was always in
29:06him.
29:06That is what his
29:07father wanted him
29:08to be.
29:10And I think his dad
29:12would be really
29:12proud.
29:15Fish coming out.
29:18We're the oldest
29:19culture on earth
29:20today.
29:24You know,
29:26always was and
29:27always will be.
29:28We're here.
29:30We're here.
29:31And we'll be here
29:33forever.
29:33forever.
29:39Oh, oh, yeah, oh,
29:45oh, yeah.
29:47Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
29:52Oh, yeah.
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