Burnum Burnum

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Burnum Burnum (born January 10, 1936 , † August 18, 1997 ) was an Australian Aboriginal activist, actor and writer. He was born on Lake Wallaga, in the southern part of the state of New South Wales , as a member of the Wurundjeri and Yorta Yorta . Baptized under the name Harry Penrith, he named himself after his great-grandfather Burnum Burnum, which means "Great Warrior".

Torn from his family at the age of three months, he spent many years in state educational institutions run by the New South Wales State Office for Native Welfare, particularly at the Kinchela Boys' Home in Kempsey. Burnum Burnum was one of the victims of the " Stolen Generation ". It was only in 2007 that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd solemnly apologized, at his first public address, for the dire treatment the Aborigines have suffered.

After leaving the institution, Burnum Burnum was one of the first Aborigines to be hired by the New South Wales Department of Agriculture and remained in office for 13 years.

He was a well-known athlete, among other things in tennis and swimming . An entire chapter was devoted to him in a book about athletes. He was also a member of the Parramatta City rugby and cricket teams .

In the late 1960s Burnum Burnum studied law at the University of Tasmania State in Hobart . During his student years, he led a successful movement calling for the proper burial of Truganini 's remains on display in the Tasmanian Museum.

Burnum Burnum hoisted the Aboriginal flag on the chalk cliffs of Dover on the coast of Great Britain on January 26, 1988 during the celebrations to mark Australia's 200th anniversary . This was a symbolic response to the British flag hoisted on the Australian coast by Arthur Phillip in 1788 .

Burnum Burnum appeared as an actor in three feature films, two thrillers and the satirical film "The Marsupials", in which he appeared as a werewolf in the shape of a bag wolf . He was also in the television film Bony: Fahrt in den Tod and the resulting television series Bony and his commissioner to see.

In the last years of his life, Burnum Burnum lived in Sydney with his wife and son . In 1997 he died unexpectedly of heart failure.

In 2005 the Jannali nature reserve was renamed Burnum Burnum.

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SURNAME Burnum Burnum
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Penrith, Harry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian aboriginal activist, actor and writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1997