Learning from the Ancestors as we move to Unknown Worlds with Professor Yalmay Yunupiŋu

Описание: In this reflective and insightful talk, Professor Yalmay Yunupiŋu, a revered Yolŋu leader from Northeast Arnhem Land and the 2024 Senior Australian of the Year, reflects on a lifetime dedicated to education, language and the strength of Yolŋu culture. A teacher and linguist at Yirrkala Bilingual School for more than four decades, Professor Yunupiŋu shares her vision for children growing up strong in both Yolŋu and Balanda worlds.

Professor Yunupiŋu speaks about the importance of bilingual education that nurtures identity rather than replacing it - ensuring Yolŋu children are literate and numerate while remaining deeply connected to their language, culture and community. She reflects on the responsibility of education to support children in becoming who they are, not someone else.

Drawing on Yolŋu knowledge systems, Professor Yunupiŋu explains the balance of Yirritja and Dhuwa, and how everything in the natural world - trees, birds, plants, fish, clouds and rocks exists within relationships of responsibility and care. She describes how children bring knowledge from community into the classroom, and how learning flows both ways between culture and formal education.

Through clarity, strength and lived experience, this talk invites us to rethink education, leadership and responsibility - reminding us that caring for children, culture and the world are inseparable. As Professor Yunupiŋu reminds us, the world must be nurtured like a child, because one day it will say goodbye to us.

Key themes explored in this talk:

Bilingual education and cultural strength
Living and learning in two worlds
Yolŋu knowledge systems: Yirritja and Dhuwa
Language, identity and leadership
Caring for children, culture and the world

About the speaker

Professor Yalmay Yunupiŋu is a highly respected Yolŋu leader from Northeast Arnhem Land and the 2024 Senior Australian of the Year. She worked as a teacher and linguist at Yirrkala Bilingual School for over forty years and is widely known as a “bilingual warrior”. She is Chair of the Yirrkala School Council and a board member of the Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporation and Djalkiri Foundation, and remains a passionate advocate for bilingual education and cultural continuity.

About the Djalkiri Foundation: https://djalkirifoundation.com.au/about/

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About this series

Indigenous Wisdom 2025 is part of Social Good Summit Australia, a national platform sharing ideas, lived experience and leadership for social, environmental and cultural change.

This series centres Indigenous voices and knowledge systems from Australia and beyond, inviting deeper listening, responsibility, and relationship with Country, culture and community.

Partners & supporters

With thanks to our partners and supporters.
Presented by Shez Cairney and The Interplay Project, with major support from Australian Ethical Investment.

Additional support from Native Bird Media, Kira Hopper, 8CCC Community Radio, and Fearless Communicators.

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Learn more

Social Good Summit Australia
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The Interplay Project
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Visual credits

Includes footage provided by:
– Ezmarelda Rose —   / honeybone.in.bloom  
– Ellis Hutch —   / ellishutch_art  
– Shez Cairney —   / shezcairney