Burnum Burnum

Burnum Burnum (10 January 1936 – 17 August 1997) was an Aboriginal Australian sportsman, activist, actor, and author. He was a Woiworrung and Yorta Yorta man, born at Wallaga Lake in southern New South Wales. He was originally christened Harry Penrith but in 1976, he changed his name to Burnum Burnum ("Great Warrior") after his grandfather both to honour him and acknowledge his Aboriginal identity.

Early life Burnum Burnum was one of the Stolen Generations, taken from his parents when he was barely three months old. Featured on Late Night Live with Phillip Adams in 1999, the story of his early years graphically illustrates the brutality of the assimilation policy in the middle decades of the 20th century. He was raised as an orphan and as a white person, given the name Harry Penrith, and was taught that white was good and black bad. He spent many years in children's homes run by the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board, most notably the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Training Home at Kempsey where he was abused, for example, being beaten with a cattle whip for accidentally breaking a window with a cricket ball, and being forced to say "Look at me and you will see that I am an Aborigine" in front of his class.

Activism Burnum Burnum became involved in Australian Indigenous rights activism while attending the University of Tasmania in the late 1960s. He continued his activism after becoming a Bahá’í, and successfully campaigned for the skeleton of the last full-blooded Aboriginal Tasmanian woman, Truganini, to be removed from display in the Museum of Tasmania. It was released and cremated at her place of birth in 1976. In conversation with Noel Loos, Mabo explained how he (Mabo) had gotten the school "off the ground" with the help of Burnum Burnum, adding that "He (Burnum Burnum) put it all together". However, Burnum stated that no harm would come to England's native people as a result of his invasion.

In 1989, Burnum was interviewed by Caroline Jones on her Radio National program, The Search for Meaning.

Acting In 1983, Burnum Burnum appeared in Golden Dolphin Productions' Gold Hugo-winning documentary Drought, narrating the indigenous legend of Tiddalik the giant frog. In 1986, he played roles in three films. The first was Dark Age, a thriller set in outback and tropical Australia, which also starred David Gulpillil as Burnum's son. The second was Ground Zero, a thriller containing themes critical of the British and Australian government's treatment of Indigenous Australians during nuclear weapon testing at Maralinga. The third was a satirical film, Marsupials: The Howling III, in which Burnum's character becomes a werewolf in the form of a Tasmanian tiger.

Burnum appeared as Uncle Albert in the 1992 TV series Bony, which was inspired by Arthur Upfield's novels about Bony, an Aboriginal detective.

Politics Burnum stood for election to the Australian Senate, as an independent in New South Wales in the 1983 and 1984 Federal election. He was also an Australian Democrats candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in the 1988 North Shore state by-election.

Death In his later life, Burnum Burnum lived in Woronora, a suburb in the Sutherland Shire, where he was active in the local community. He died from heart disease on 17 August 1997, aged 61. His death received considerable media coverage, including an obituary in The New York Times.