Burnum Burnum (1936–1997) was a Woiworung/Yorta Yorta activist, actor and author. Born Harry Penrith at Wallaga Lake, New South Wales, he was taken from his family at three months old and spent his childhood in a mission home in Bomaderry and at the notorious Kinchela Boys' Home near Kempsey. After completing school he joined the public service, working in Sydney, Leeton and Wagga Wagga. In the mid-1960s he became involved in activism and sought to reconnect with his cultural heritage. He was involved in the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972, and while studying law at the University of Tasmania he led a successful campaign to reclaim Trukanini's remains from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. In 1976 he changed his name to Burnum Burnum (great warrior) to honour his great-grandfather, artist Tommy McRae, and the same year he was involved in the ceremonial dispersal of Trukanini’s ashes. On 26 January 1988, he laid claim to England at the White Cliffs of Dover, erecting the Aboriginal flag and offering the British a Koompartoo – a 'fresh start'. That year he wrote Burnum Burnum's Aboriginal Australia: A Traveller's Guide.
Purchased with funds provided by James Bain AM and Janette Bain 2010
© Bruce Postle
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