Major Moogy Sumner

Major Lancelot "Moogy" Sumner (born 1948), also known as Uncle Moogy, is an Aboriginal Australian elder, cultural adviser, dancer, and environmental activist in South Australia.

Early life and education Major Lancelot Sumner was born in 1948 on Point McLeay mission on the shore of Lake Alexandrina in South Australia, one of 12 children. The family moved to Millicent in the South East of the state, but after his parents split up, he and several brothers were placed in a boys' home in Adelaide.

Sumner is of the Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna peoples, with particular knowledge of and affiliation to Ngarrindjeri culture. In 2010 he joined with other traditional owners in travelling down the river from Queensland to the Southern Ocean, performing ceremonies every night, in the ancient Ringbalin tradition that had been performed before colonisation but not since. The impetus for this undertaking was the decade-long drought, and, not long afterwards, the rains began that year, and there were record-breaking floods in the following year.

In 2011, Sumner crafted the first Ngarrindjeri bark canoe on Country in over a century, which was dubbed "Moogy's Yuki". In November 2023, he was part of a delegation who went to Canberra to lobby the government on the issue of river health.

Cultural activities Sumner, also known as "Uncle Moogy", is an elder, dancer, cultural ambassador, who works to further Ngarrindjeri culture. Apart from traditional dance and song, cultural advice, he creates and advises on various traditional arts and crafts, including wood carving, and combat methods that employ traditional shields, clubs, boomerangs, and spears. (or Talkindjeri) dance group, and is still artistic director. and performed the Welcome at the launch of the Yes campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in a northern suburb of the same city in August 2023. In 2024, he welcomed former British Prime Minister and current foreign minister David Cameron to Government House in Adelaide. and was instrumental in the establishment of Wangayarta, a burial ground for Kaurna ancestors in Smithfield Memorial Park in the northern Adelaide suburb of Evanston South.

Sumner has run the three-day Dupang Pangari (Coorong Spirit) Festival The 2024 event included performances by the Tal Kin Jeri dancers; cultural workshops in basket-weaving, yidaki, and carving clubs and clap-sticks; traditional ceremonies; and a marketplace.

Politics and leadership In 2018, Sumner stood for the Australian Greens in a by-election in the Division of Mayo, as they were the party which had the strongest policies to protect the Murray.

In April 2024, Sumner was elected to the South Australian Voice to Parliament, topping the votes in his ward. He had previously campaigned for a "Yes" vote in the 2023 referendum for a national Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

In 2025, Sumner ran as the Greens candidate for the Division of Barker in the federal election.

Other roles and activities Board member of the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority Member of the World Council of Elders Director of Talkingjeri Aboriginal Corporation

In November 2020, Sumner was recognised as Elder of the Year in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield's ATSI Awards, in which he was described as a "world-renowned performer and cultural ambassador of Ngarrindjeri arts, crafts, martial arts and traditional culture", "highly respected Elder", "local ambassador for Aboriginal people and culture within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and the broader western Adelaide suburbs... an international, national and local icon".

In 2021 won the Premier of South Australia's NAIDOC Award.

Personal life Sumner married Loretta Sumner, and they have a small leasehold on Aboriginal land not far from where he was born at Point McLeay. They had nine children, and as of 2018 had 28 grandchildren.

The family lived in Canada for some time, to learn more about incorporating First Nations justice and law into modern judicial systems.

A previous resident of Millicent in the South East of the state, Sumner lives and works in Adelaide and at Camp Coorong.

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