Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu (formerly
Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu,
skin name Gudjuk), , (17 September 19562 June 2013) was an
Aboriginal Australian musician and educator. From 1986 he was the front man of the
Aboriginal rock group
Yothu Yindi as a singer-songwriter and guitarist. In 1989 he became assistant principal of the Yirrkala Community School – his former school – and was principal for the following two years. He helped establish the Yolngu Action Group and introduced the Both Ways system, which recognised traditional Aboriginal teaching alongside Western methods. Yothu Yindi released six albums,
Homeland Movement (March 1989),
Tribal Voice (October 1991),
Freedom (November 1993),
Birrkuta - Wild Honey (November 1996),
One Blood (June 1999),
Garma (November 2000). The group's top 20
ARIA Singles Chart appearances were "
Treaty" (1991) and "Djäpana (Sunset Dreaming)" (1992). He was appointed
Australian of the Year for 1992 by the
National Australia Day Council. In April 1998 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
Queensland University of Technology. In December 2012 Yothu Yindi were inducted into the
ARIA Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was diagnosed with advanced
renal failure and died in 2013, aged 56.