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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 school teacher in Yirukala who would rise to become principal.
09:28He was also an up and coming musician who wanted to go places.
09:34Mandawai 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
10:50We're ready to get out of the band.
10:52Wittiana was a really important part of the image of the band.
10:57So he's a very good looking man.
10:59Powerful stage presence.
11:02Powerful voice.
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, he's got this Elvis thing
11:24going on that he just mixes in at the right time and brings it right up front and the
11:30audience 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 Yindi put out Treaty, everything suddenly exploded.
12:02They went from being a backyard band in Ukala to being a household name across Australia.
12:15The song started to race up the charts, not just in Australia, but in other countries
12:20too.
12:21Okay.
12:21This is Yothi Yindi.
12:22DC.
12:23Check this out.
12:23You're going to enjoy this.
12:29Preeti was the first time that a song essentially about Yolngo rights, Aboriginal rights was in
12:35the mainstream.
12:38My life just changed and I was becoming a famous Yolngo rock star.
12:47And that puts us up there, the top of the world.
12:57Rock and rolls, you know, there's alcohol, there's drugs, there's just day in, day out,
13:02you travel, you perform.
13:03And it took its toll.
13:05It took its toll on Whittayana, 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, my father was very, very ill and I could feel his energy that he
13:36was calling me home.
13:39Come back my son, come back.
13:45Whittayana was driving his car out towards the remote community of Ramengining and Whittayana's
13:52young son was in the car.
13:55There was alcohol.
13:58We came into Kapuoyak, bending sharp corner, full speed.
14:06We was going around the corner and then bang.
14:11We just hit the side of the road and then flipped.
14:15The car flipped.
14:17One, two, three, four, five.
14:23Wrong.
14:24He 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 if he kept it up and he was hurting other people.
14:45And that's when he said, no more drinking.
14:49I'm going to be an elder.
14:54It was time to come back home and be a leader to step into my father's footstep.
15:02Dad said, come home, come back to the land, come back to the songs, come 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 who was then, yeah, getting on in age and he wasn't
15:20sure how long he was going to be around to get from him as much as possible, learn from
15:26him as much as possible before his father died.
15:31One of the founding fathers of the land rights movement has 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 and 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 as a memorial for my twin brother.
16:24A time to reflect about his life and journey.
16:29Whiriyana was called upon basically for everything around his community, welcoming ceremonies and
16:36every funeral.
16:38Welcome, welcome, welcome people that came in today from my brother's memorial.
16:49He's the person who's comforting the woman who's lost her child.
16:54He's there in the middle of the night when someone has been run over.
16:57Whiriyana will appear with his clapsticks.
16:59He'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 and there's sort of violence going on.
17:20And you'll see Whiriyana, he'll just start with the clapsticks.
17:26And he walks straight through the middle of these scenes as he's got a force field around
17:32him and slowly things subdue and Whiriyana will just walk up, take them by the hand, remove
17:40the weapon, put his arm around him and walk him off.
17:43Whiriyana is leading the whole show in the community, Whiriyana is really a peacemaker.
17:58Being a strong man is hard, it takes time, it takes wisdom, it takes knowledge.
18:12These ceremony leaders are really, from a cultural perspective, the 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, but without that your son won't get
18:28initiated, without that you can't bury a family member that's deceased.
18:36Whiriyana'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
18:52its people.
18:58Whiriyana appears to be walking in both worlds very effectively these days.
19:04So he's managing to maintain his important ceremonial role whilst 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, and I thought he
19:22could 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, and how
19:34the 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, and Whiriyana stood up and it was
19:54kind of like he was born to do it.
19:56Your uncle has broken the law.
20:02He wants to know what law you're talking about.
20:05What?
20:07It was my first acting role, and I haven't been to a school or whatever, you know?
20:16Nah.
20:17It's just natural.
20:19Just right there.
20:20Bang.
20:21By the power and knowledge and spirituality.
20:28This is my law.
20:30It come from the soil, from other earth.
20:33Yours 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, and the resistance goes on to this day.
20:49Prominent Gumarch leader, Gullaroy Yunupingu, says he plans to lodge a native title compensation claim over Borkside mining land in
20:57Gove within months.
20:59Over 50 years after, all of the hubbub around the establishment of the mine, the bark petitions, we're back in
21:09the courts with a huge case claiming that the Yungu people were dispossessed without just terms.
21:20The case will hear arguments about whether Yungu people have a right to compensation.
21:25The court claim wound through the courts for some years, and then it finally made its way to the highest
21:31court in the land.
21:34And the opening of that High Court session is incredible.
21:40A whole group of Yungu people, men and women, from different clans, come to the opening of that court session.
21:50And Wilyana sat there with his brothers every day during the High Court case, and he'd lead them in every
21:55morning with his billboard and song.
22:04Traditional owners in the Northern Territory have had a significant win in the High Court in a landmark case over
22:10native title rights.
22:14The High Court decided that the land hadn't been acquired on just terms, and compensation was owed.
22:21It could be a huge amount of money. The original claim is for over half a billion dollars, but it's
22:26back to the Federal Court now to determine that.
22:31My father, he would have been the happiest man alive when he would have been here today for winning the
22:41case.
22:45While Wilyana was trying to navigate this incredibly difficult court process, at the same time he was struggling with his
22:54health.
22:57I was in pain and I had blood tests.
23:02I realised that I had a problem with my heart.
23:06Your, your, your bowel is not pumping properly.
23:10It was serious, it was serious. I could die any time, you know.
23:16He was almost skeletal, like he'd driven himself way past any medical barrier.
23:21He was running on, not even fumes, and just doing his ceremonial obligations until he collapsed, as I recall.
23:29And, 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 and have this really big open heart surgery.
23:44And he said, I don't want to.
23:49I was afraid, I was dying.
23:53Everyone told me that, you must go, you must go, we want your life.
23:58Just go.
24:00They will help you, those heart surgeons, because we need you.
24:06We need you.
24:08We need you.
24:08This community needs you.
24:10He hugged us and said, we're going. I'm going.
24:17Today, we are now standing on sacred ground.
24:29My circuit affects 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 and step out and just take care
25:01of this community.
25:04Good morning, everyone.
25:06My families.
25:08My board.
25:10Widiana's role is becoming increasingly important in the sense that people are growing old, people are passing away, and Widiana
25:20is stepping up.
25:22Only Umara and Bilma.
25:24Power.
25:25One would hope that he'll get to the point where he is taking over his father's position as the leader
25:32of the Ruta Chingle clan.
25:40So, over the next few years, there's some fairly complex issues we need to get through.
25:44He's got a massive, important role to play.
25:47And I think because of Widiana's ability to work in two worlds, he's actually going to be a major part
25:52of how we do move forward.
25:57Rio Tinto have said to us that they're going to close the mine in 2029, but at that point in
26:04time, the royalties stop.
26:07The town will lose its main current employer.
26:11When the compensation's finally paid out, there could be rivalries, there could be some contention about where that money is
26:18going to go and if it's being distributed to the right people in 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.
26:45You know?
26:46You know?
26:49Yeah.
26:54So 2025, Yorthy Indi is back.
26:57Mandel woi passed away in 2013.
26:59And so we're now working on what we're calling a multi-generational band.
27:03And I'm 64, but I'm still flying across the stage.
27:09We didn't do any shows for quite some time.
27:12They then finally reformed the band
27:15and Whittayana was a big part of doing that.
27:19All right, put your hands together, boys.
27:21We're one of the youngers.
27:24We're one of the youngers.
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.
27:45And I think he'd be proud of Whittayana today
27:48to be continuing that legacy.
27:56Whittayana gets up there and kind of leads the show now.
27:59He's the front man in that way
28:01because everyone knows that he's the original.
28:18We have two grandkids.
28:23This is a girl
28:26and a boy.
28:29Two twins.
28:31Look, it's absolutely amazing that Widjana Marika is still alive today
28:35with the things that he's had against him.
28:40He was never meant to die or disappear.
28:47He was meant to be here and to love Yirakala and its people.
28:54It's a crazy wild ride from this incredible dreadlocked rock star
29:00into incredibly important cultural leader.
29:04That was always in him.
29:06That is what his father wanted him to be.
29:09And I think his dad would be really proud.
29:15Fish coming out.
29:17We're the oldest culture on earth today.
29:25You know, always was and always will be.
29:28We're here.
29:30We're here.
29:31And we'll be here forever.
29:42Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah.
29:45Oh, oh, oh, yeah.
29:47Oh, baby.
29:49Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
29:53Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
29:56oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
29:56oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
29:56oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
29:57oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
29:59oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
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