Laurie Baymarrwangga – An Amazing Senior Australian

95 year old great, great grandmother Laurie Baymarrwangga, from the Crocodile Islands east of Darwin, is Senior Australian of 2012. Laurie has played a crucial role – often in the face of hardship – in protecting her culture and her country and in passing down local ecological knowledge to different age groups.

Laurie’s Amazing Community Service

“In the nine decades since her birth on the island of Murrungga, Laurie Baymarrwangga has seen the arrival of missionaries, exploitation by Japanese and European fishermen, war and tumultuous change.

Undaunted, she has almost single-handedly nurtured the inter-generational transmission of local ecological knowledge through a lifelong commitment to caring for kin, culture and country.

In the 1960s Laurie established a housing project on her homelands that has benefitted generations of kin. Speaking no English, with no access to funding, resources or expertise she initiated the Yan-nhangu dictionary project.

Her cultural maintenance projects include the Crocodile Islands Rangers, a junior rangers group and an online Yan-nhangu dictionary for school children.

In 2010, after a struggle stretching back to 1945, Laurie finally received back payments for rents owed to her as the land and sea owner of her father’s estate. She donated it all, around $400,000, to improve education and employment opportunities on the island and to establish a 1,000 square kilometre turtle sanctuary on her marine estate.

In the face of many obstacles, this great, great grandmother has shown extraordinary leadership and courage in caring for the cultural and biological integrity of her beloved Crocodile Islands.” Australian of the Year Awards

Laurie’s Advice For Fellow Seniors On Contributing To Their Community

Laurie emphasises the importance of strong links to family, country, and the language of the country, which she sees as a repository for our cultural heritage.

She wants us all to remain courageous and undaunted in recognising the value of cultural differences as we create a future and a nation of which we can all be proud. News for Seniors