Media Release……Friday 16 October 2009
Death of a great and distinguished Territorian 16
October 2009
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Wamud Namok is better known as Lofty Bardayal
Nadjamerrek but out of respect to Aboriginal tradition the family request that he
be called by his subsection and clan name in reports of his passing. The family
have asked that photographic images, film and video footage of Wamud
Namok NOT BE USED as this will add to the family’s grief. (Wamud
pronounced wa-mud with the “u” sound as the “oo” in “wood”).
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One of the Northern Territory’s most distinguished and respected
indigenous leaders has passed away aged 83 on his country at the remote
West Arnhem Land Outstation of Kabulwarnamyo.
Wamud Namok was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for his services to
the arts and indigenous land management in 2004. Only two indigenous
Territorians have received this national honour.
Born on the Arnhem Land Plateau in 1926 Wamud Namok spent much of his life
travelling across the traditional walking tracks of western and southern Arnhem
Land hunting, participating in ceremonies, trading traditional commodities and
maintaining his extended kin networks. As a youth he worked in the tin mining
industry and gave otherwise unrecognised service in the Katherine region with
the military during the Second World War. His extensive travel has been the
basis for his exceptional knowledge about places, their land ownership status,
their physical peculiarities, available resources and religious significance as well
as their history passed on by previous generations.
In his senior years Wamud Namok worked as a consultant to anthropologists, art
historians, botanists and a diverse group of other researchers from both the
social and natural sciences. He was also a regular speaker at regional land
management conferences. He has been extremely generous with his knowledge
taking on an important role as teacher to both non-Aboriginal people and younger
generations of Aboriginal kin.
Wamud Namok has been one of the region’s most important and loved artists.
His works are held by most major state cultural institutions in Australia and
overseas. He is also known as the last Aboriginal artist to have painted works on
the walls of rock shelters in western Arnhem Land. His knowledge of the
contemporary significance of rock art in the region was unparalleled and
represents a link with the past and a particular way of life which has now
changed forever.
In Late September this year he saw the rock country lands of the West Arnhem
Plateau declared as an Indigenous Protected Area at a ceremony attended by
the Environment Minister Peter Garrett and other dignatories. The declaration
was a great step towards his vision of bringing his people back to care for their
traditional lands.
Contact by email please as telephones are needed here for family use at this
time. This email address can also be used for messages of sympathy to be
passed on to family.
Email: Warddeken@activ8.net.au
NEWS 
