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Yidumduma Bill Harney Yidumduma Bill Harney i(A81520 works by) (a.k.a. Bill Jr. Harney; William Edward Harney; Bill Yidumduma Harney)
Born: Established: 1936 Victoria River area, Central Northern Territory, Northern Territory, ;
Gender: Male
Heritage: Aboriginal ; Aboriginal Wardaman
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BiographyHistory

Yidumduma Bill Harney was born near Willeroo homestead at a place called Brandy Bottle Creek in the Victoria River area of the Northern Territory. Harney's totem is the Bulyan, the black wedge-tail eagle.

Harney was not a part of the Stolen Generation because the station where he lived and worked as a child did not want the government taking away their cheap labour. Each time the Welfare came out to the station, the managers sent Harney away to avoid being taken. During his life time, Harney worked as a stockman, mailman, pinecutter, mechanic, windmill rigger, crocodile shooter and saddler. He also made fences, poddy-dodged cattle (cattle thieving) and farmed.

In 1981, Harney helped the Wardaman people develop the Aboriginal Community Living Area on the Scott Creek pastoral lease at Djarrung near the Flora River. Then in 1986 he was the chief adviser for the documentary The Land of the Lightning Brothers, which was produced by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Film Australia, Australian Heritage Commission and the Northern Territory Government. Due to the public's interest to the documentary on his Aboriginal culture, Harney set up a tour company named Bill Harney's Jankangyina Tour, which was formed in 1989.

Exhibitions

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • An exhibition celebrating the life of a “bush professor”  opened at the Charles Darwin University Art Gallery on 1 June 2018.

Personal Awards

2017 winner National Dreamtime Awards Elder of the Year
2012 recipient Rona Tranby Award

The Rona Tranby Award was used to fund fieldwork with Yidumduma and the processing of this vast cultural archive into a website.

Last amended 10 Oct 2019 15:08:39
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