Mali' Buku-Ruanmaram

The University of Sydney Archives presents this unique volume of images from the north-eastern Arnhem Land communities of Milingimbi and Galiwin'ku was selected and described by Dr JN Gumbula. This book provides some of the earliest photographic images of Yolngu dating back to 1926 showing traditional, ceremonial and mission life as well as images of landscapes and early anthropological expeditions. JN Gumbula was an eminent Yolngu elder, artist and intellectual. He was descended from a long line of prominent Yolngu leaders whose contributions to dialogue and understanding between Indigenous and other Australians date from the 1920s, and is a foremost authority on international collections of material culture from Arnhem Land.