Laurie Baymarrwangga
| Laurie Baymarrwangga (Baymarrwaŋa) | |
|---|---|
| Born | circa 1917 Murruŋga Island, Australia |
| Died | 20 August 2014 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Indigenous Tribal Elder |
| Known for | Intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge and heritage, preservation of biological heritage, preservation of traditional languages. |
Laurie Baymarrwangga (Gawany) Baymarrwaŋa was born around 1917 on Murruŋga Island (largest of the outer Crocodile Islands of North-East Arnhem Land), in the Northern Territory of Australia. Laurie was the Senior Aboriginal Traditional Owner of the Malarra estate, which includes Galiwin'ku, Dalmana, Murruŋga, Brul-brul and the Ganatjirri Maramba Salt Water surrounding the islands and inclusive of some 300 other named sites. She devoted her life to the intergenerational transmission of the ancestral language and knowledge of her homelands on the Crocodile Islands, for the benefit of future generations.
She is a great-great grandmother of the Malarra-Gunbiirrtji Clan, and in 2012 was reportedly 95 years old. She spoke the Yan-nhangu language, Djambarrpuyŋu, and several other regional languages of Northeast Arnhem Land. She was named Senior Northern Territory Australian of the Year, and Senior Australian of the Year in 2012. Her encyclopaedic knowledge was the inspiration for an ethnographic publication and a language documentation project
She was first photographed by Donald Thomson on Murrungga island in April, 1937. She survived the World War II Japanese bombing of Milingimbi in 1943.
In the 1960s she began a return to her island homeland at Murruŋga, becoming permanently resident in the 1970s.
In 1968, she started a bilingual school under a tree on the island, and it was taken over by NT Education in 1975.
In 1994 she started the Yan-nhaŋu dictionary project with fellow speakers and the anthropologist Bentley James. (Yan-nhangu Dictionary 1994-2003) She continued working with linguist Claire Bowern on expanding the 2003 dictionary to three times its original size. She was instrumental in the compilation of a learner's guide to the language and work on Yan-nhaŋu grammar is on-going.
In 1997 together they introduced Yan-nhaŋu into the bilingual school curriculum.
In 2002 she initiated the Crocodile Islands Rangers, which she personally funded in 2009.
In 2011 she won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the NT Research and Innovation Board for the Crocodile Islands Initiative in honour of her ongoing struggle to save her homelands from administrative closure.
She was the 2012 Senior Australian of the Year, awarded for her "leadership and commitment in caring for the Crocodile Islands biological and cultural environment".
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