AustLit

Fred Mundraby is an elder of the Yidinyji people and the great-grandson of their leader Yabulam Mandi Ngarbay.

Fred Mundraby spent his childhood in the Yarrabah Mission in North Queensland. His mother, of the Ganyju people, was brought to Yarrabah Mission from Cape York as a child. Mission officials changed her name.

After leaving the dormintories, Mundraby worked with his father in the saw mill before leaving the mission to work as a shell diver. Mundraby returned to Yarrabah and married there, resuming work in the saw mill as well as cutting cane until the mechanical harvesters took over the work.

In Reaching Back (1989), Mundraby talks about the impact of having to apply for passes to travel between workplaces and the Mission or to be able to travel to Cairns.