Beetaloo Jangari Bill

Beetaloo Jangari Bill or Wirinykari / Weingari (c. 1915 – 1986) was an Australian Warumungu and Gurindji man who worked as a labourer and became an elder of his people. His knowledge of Aboriginal traditions was used to assist numerous groups in successful land claims in 1980 and 1983.

Bill had a broad and deep knowledge of Aboriginal law which was matched with an 'easy familiarity' with Europeans.

Life in the Northern Territory The exact date of Bill's birth is unclear and is likely to have been between 1910 and 1915 and his European name 'Beetaloo' is derived from Beetaloo Station where he was born. He was the son of Roderick Jampin (Mirilkari), a Warumungu man, and Clara Parrangali Nawurla who was Gurindji and he was the eldest of several children. His Aboriginal name was Wirinykari (Weingari). Later he became a member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union from 1975. He was eventually able to retire on superannuation. He would often 'run out' of petrol when near a camp or cattle station where he knew he would be welcome. Bill did this in response to a boycott and signed petition started by some of the 'European' parents, primarily due to supposed 'health concerns' with many parents advocating that separate toilets and water taps would have to be built at the school; others stated that they would prefer to remove their children and send them to school in Alice Springs, almost away, then see the school be assimilated.

Bill defended Nita, and the other children, and told the journalist Frank Hardy that he wanted her to be able to read and write and that he `would not take her away from the school no matter what happened’. The school was integrated after the then Administrator Roger Nott appealed to the Elliott parents to give the new system a fair trial.

In the early 1960s, Bill was not a citizen, as this predated the 1967 Australian referendum and, when asked if, as a current ward of the government, he would like citizenship he said that:

Death He died on 29 September 1983 at Elliott.