Death Of A Great And Distinguished Territorian

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16th October 2009, 04:14pm - Views: 1013





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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

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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






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