In Memory of Big Bill

Big Bill at his wake last year

The picture that accompanies this story is being used with the full consent of Big Bill's immediate family. They state it was Big Bill's wish that his name continue to be used after his death.

When Big Bill Neidjie, OAM, passed away on 23 May, the Indigenous people of the Northern Territory lost an outstanding leader and the wider community a great teacher of traditional values.

He was an educator all his life and it was the thing he loved doing most. At his funeral at Canon Hill, he was still being an educator over that week in the bush.

Former NLC Executive Council Member, John Christopherson

John was still a small boy when he first remembers meeting his imposing, barrel-chested uncle at the old family home in Fannie Bay.

I remember him taking me hunting in a canoe with some other fellas in Darwin Harbour.

He was a good hunter - we caught a lot of dugong and turtle.

Now, seeing how I was so taken by fishing, he went away and - with a few other brothers - he made me a canoe. He brought it around from Coburg once he'd finished it and me and the other kids painted it yellow.

I added to it by painting a shark's mouth on the front. It was a great canoe, that, but years later I lost it. Now I'm hoping someone might read this and give it back to me.

John Christopherson

The essential details of Bill's life have already passed into legend: the early years spent in buffalo hunters' camps in the East Alligator river region after his birth some time around 1920, followed by work as a forester on the Coburg Peninsula and a stint with the Australian Army during World War II, the post-War years spent on caostal luggers supplying remote communities, then the return to his traditional lands in 1975 to lead his Bunidj people's successful fight for land rights.

Then of course there was the public wake held in July last year to celebrate his life - while he was still alive. As Bill said, he wanted it that way so he could be around to hear the nice things said about me.

But Big Bill's public life masked the private turmoil that affected so many Aboriginal families last century. His sister, John's mother, was part of the Stolen Generations.

John said Big Bill was not a man to dwell on past injustices, and it was only when John himself became involved with the land rights movement in the 1970s that Big Bill shared some of his thoughts about whitefella law.

Bill is deservedly famous for his role as principal claimant in the Alligator Rivers Stage II land claim, the creation of Kakadu National Park and as the author of the acclaimed book Kakadu Man. But beyond the fame, Bill was also a private man who enjoyed spending time alone in his country.

He fought hard for his land and he loved teaching but he often resented the demands on his time. Sometimes he just wanted to be left alone.

John Christopherson

Now he is at one with his country. In Bill's own words:

My spirit has gone back to my country . . . my mother.

Big Bill Neidjie, OAM