Yothu Yindi

This is a kinship term of the Yolngu, a coastal people of the north-eastern part of the land now known as Australia. Mandawuy Yunupingu, a Yolngu elder, has written:

Yolngu culture in north-east Arnhem Land is among the oldest living cultures on earth. We live by codes of behaviour laid down by our totemic ancestors at the beginning of time, laws that are embedded in the land itself. The main kinship term we use to describe ourselves is Yothu Yindi, meaning child and mother. It encompasses the two sides of our world which we keep in balance. A balance between people and land ensuring our survival for tens of thousands of years.

In his song Baywara, Mandawuy Yunupingu sings of the Great One:

Maker of the land
Maker of the songs
Maker of the constitution (chorus)

The journey of the Great One
Starts from the east
Where the mighty ocean meets the land
Then the population came
She walked with the Law in Her hands
Singing children of the earth
Praise the journey of the songlines
Find the sign and follow the sun … (chorus)

Lightening She spoke
The power of One
Into the sea
Where the splinters fell
Her mind at its best
She did create.

Baywara Baywara (chorus)


[from Yothu Yindi: One blood (Sydney: Mushroom Records, 1999. MUSH33229.2)]