bunna lawrie
Whaledreamer, songman, storyteller...these are just a few ways in which Bunna Lawrie represents the Mirning Aboriginal tribe and tells the story of his country and fight for land and sea protection along the Great Southern Reef. Born and raised along the Nullarbor at the head of the Great Australian Bight, Lawrie adopted his community’s culture, laws and tradition at an early age growing up to be a Mirning senior elder and medicine man
Lawrie was initially recognised in the 80s and 90s for his rock band, Coloured Stone. As the front man he sang about indigenous issues and managed to give mainstream Australian culture a sense of the Aboriginal values of the land and sea country, their historical and ongoing difficulties and finally, attempting to bridge that cultural divide.
When talking to him, he will often reference the Mirrdinjar word goonminyerra– a notion of thanks and respecting and honouring the land and sea. A natural poet, he loves to tell the Creation story, and help people to understand and appreciate the way he does. With the whale being sacred to the Mirning people and the tribe’s totem, he has used them as a symbol in recent years while campaigning against big oil and gas exploration within the Bight.
Image: The Great Australian Bight Alliance
Protection for the future
As a leader within the Great Australian Bight Alliance, Lawrie has been spearheading the Fight for the Bight campaign with representatives from a collective of conservation groups spanning the Australian coastlines. As a spiritual symbol, he would attend campaign events and paddle-outs igniting the passion within the people who heard him deliver a plea on behalf of his home giving a sense of the Bight for people who had never been there before, giving them a sense of connection.
Though his homeland is safe for now, he is still fighting to have this pristine area and ecosystem listed as a World Heritage Site, so that it will be protected indefinitely. Moving forward he is hoping to instill the same love for his country within the younger generation in his community and around Australia, so that there will be cultural custodians and protectors of the Great Australian Bight for generations to come.
