The Hon Malarndirri McCarthy, the Member for Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory parliament will launch Dr Murray Seiffert’s book Gumbuli of Ngukurr: Aboriginal Elder in Arnhem Land at Darwin’s Nungalinya College, Dripstone Road, Casuarina, at 1.00 pm Friday, October 21.
Malarndirri McCarthy describes Gumbuli of Ngukurr as ‘an inspiring story, which will enable readers to reflect both on 50,000 years of Australian Aboriginal history and on the past 100 years of life in the territory. Gumbuli, the first Indigenous person in the Territory to be ordained as an Anglican priest, is an incredible man and has been an outstanding leader in Arnhem Land, on Groote Island and in the Gulf Country Region, whose story deserves to be shared with all Australians.’
Paul Arnott, the chair of Acorn Press, which published Gumbuli, today said, ‘This is an important biography of a significant and influential Indigenous Northern Territory leader in the person of the Michael Gumbuli Wurramurra, OAM, who still lives at Ngukurr. But it is also tells the story of the Ngukurr/Roper River community through the life of Gumbuli. It is the hope of the Acorn Press board that this major biography will enable both Gumbuli’s story and the story of Indigenous Australia in the Northern Territory to become far more accessible to non-Indigenous Australia.
Rev Paul Arnott, chair of the Acorn Press board
