Yidumduma Bill Harney

You may be aware of my relationship with my great friend and mentor Yubulyawan clan Elder Yidumduma Bill Harney of the Wardaman Aboriginal people. I have been visiting and learning from Bill for many years in his Wardaman homeland in the Victoria River country of the Northern Territory of Australia. Since 1990 I have been presenting Land Of the Lightning Brothers Land Of the Lightning Brothers, a slide show of rock art, stories and songs from Bill's country.

Yubuyawan Dreaming Project

In 2003 Bill asked me to film and document his rock art sites and associated stories for his people. So in 2004 we formally began the Wardaman Dreaming Project (WDP), now titled Yubulyawn Dreaming Project YDP. Primarily using video, the YDP has amassed over 100 hours of cultural material under the direction of Yidumduma. Footage has been archived at AIATSIS in Canberra and with funding support from the Kalliopeia Foundation we are currently building a YDP Website to showcase this great cultural resource.

Yidumduma Bill Harney is an Elder and the last Senior Male Aboriginal custodian of the Wardaman people of the Victoria, Flora, and Katherine River Districts of the Northern Territory of Australia. Born in MUY MUY clan country in the early 1930's, Yidumduma is of the YUBULYAWAN clan.


Raised and educated in Wardaman traditional ceremony, Yidumduma is a fully initiated Wardaman man and speaks seven languages. He worked at an early age on cattle stations and throughout his life has prospered in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds.

He has been described as one of Australia's living 'National Treasures'.