Yidumduma Bill Harney
You may be aware of my relationship with my great friend and mentor Yubulyawan clan Elder Yidumduma Bill Harney of the Wardaman Aboriginal people. I have been visiting and learning from Bill for many years in his Wardaman homeland in the Victoria River country of the Northern Territory of Australia. Since 1990 I have been presenting Land Of the Lightning Brothers Land Of the Lightning Brothers, a slide show of rock art, stories and songs from Bill's country.
Yubulyawan Dreaming Project
In 2003 Bill asked me to film and document his rock art sites and associated stories for his people. So in 2004 we formally began the Wardaman Dreaming Project (WDP), now titled Yubulyawn Dreaming Project YDP. Primarily using video, the YDP has amassed over 100 hours of cultural material under the direction of Yidumduma. Footage has been archived at AIATSIS in Canberra and with funding support from the Kalliopeia Foundation we have launched the YDP Website to showcase this great cultural resource.
State Finalist. Australian Of The Year Award
The Director Paul Taylor was nominated and selected as a State Finalist for the Northern Territory in the Australian of the Year Awards 2013, for his years of service working with Yidumduma Bill Harney and the Yubulyawan Dreaming Project.
- Learn
Yidumduma Bill Harney
More About Bill
Land of the Lightning Brothers Flyer
Land of the Lightning Brothers Slide show - Donate to YDP
Letter from the Elders
Make a Donation by Check
Make a Donation Online
- Watch
Bill on Australian National TV: ABC's "Message Stick"
Bill on Wyoming Public TV
Bill and Paul in Concert
Global Spriit: Dreams, Visions & Realities
Global Spirit clips: Painting Talking Story, The Sound of Creation Time
- Read
Dark Sparklers, Bill's Astronomy book
Born Under a Paperbark Tree, Bill's book of life stories
- Bills Art
Art Mob
Mimi Arts & Crafts
Yidumduma Bill Harney is an Elder and the last Senior Male Aboriginal custodian of the Wardaman people of the Victoria, Flora, and Katherine River Districts of the Northern Territory of Australia. Born in MUY MUY clan country in the early 1930's, Yidumduma is of the YUBULYAWAN clan.
Raised and educated in Wardaman traditional ceremony, Yidumduma is a fully initiated Wardaman man and speaks seven languages. He worked at an early age on cattle stations and throughout his life has prospered in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds.
He has been described as one of Australia's living 'National Treasures'.
