Yalmay Yunupingu
2024 Senior Australian of the Year
Gentle, generous and funny – Yalmay Yunupingu touches many lives in north-east Arnhem Land.
As a teacher and linguist, she guided teaching at Yirrkala Bilingual School for four decades,
retiring in March 2023.
Often called the mother of the school, Yalmay started by translating Dr Seuss books at the
community library into her local Yolngu Matha language. She qualified as a teacher and, with her
husband (of Yothu Yindi fame), forged a bilingual teaching approach to make young people
strong in their Yolngu language and culture.
A respected elder, Yalmay is in constant demand for consultations, projects and her bush healing
work. She helps everyone, always with a smile on her face.
In 2005, she was awarded a ‘Teacher of Excellence’ by the Northern Territory Department of
Education and is an Honorary University Fellow at the Charles Darwin University. Since retiring,
she has been teaching the next generation about traditional healing.
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