Ministerial Statement

Lester, Mr Yami

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:02): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yesterday, His Excellency the Governor and I, plus the Leader of the Opposition and other parliamentarians, travelled to South Australia's Far North to attend a state funeral like no other. We went to Walatina Station on the APY lands to farewell a man of immense grace, warmth and standing in this state and nation—Mr Yami Lester OAM.

It was a testament to Mr Lester's exceptional leadership and personal qualities that hundreds of people converged on that tiny settlement to pay their respects. With words and music, with a mixture of sadness and humour, mourners recounted Yami's life of passion, resilience and faith in a way that none of us present will ever forget. They recalled among other things his capacity to overcome adversity, his ability to tell wonderful stories and to make people feel happy, and the love of the Red and Blue of the Melbourne Football Club.

Yami Lester was born in the early 1940s near Granite Downs Station and from a young age developed a reputation as a fine stockman and skilled horseman. His life and the lives of many others were changed in a devastating and irrevocable way by the British nuclear testing at Emu Field, in October 1953. When the details and implications of the testing came fully to light in the 1980s, Yami told the McClelland royal commission about his experience—an experience that made him permanently blind from 1957. This is part of what he said to the royal commission, which took evidence at Walatina:

I heard a big bang—a noise like an explosion and later something come in the air. It was coming from the south, black-like smoke. I was thinking it might be a dust storm, but it was quiet, just moving…through the trees and above that again, you know. It was just rolling and moving quietly.

He described how the old people were frightened, thinking it was a spirit, and how they tried to direct it away from their camp with woomeras. But the lasting damage had been done. Yami's truth telling was powerful, and he was unwilling to tolerate attempts to minimise or cover up the effects of the testing that occurred at a number of sites across South Australia, including at Maralinga. Indeed, his advocacy and simple statement of facts changed the way history views these events and the way the world generally views the truly terrible power of such weapons and technology.

It is important for the house to note that Yami Lester's activities and achievements were evident in many other fields of endeavour, too. We heard yesterday, for example, of his work with the Aboriginal Advancement League and his instrumental role in the founding of the Institute for Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs and the Pitjantjatjara Land Council.

As a pioneer of court interpreting, he worked in the law courts to make sure the voice of the Anangu people was properly heard and understood. He is acknowledged not merely for land rights but also for the protection of the natural environment and for the maintenance of Aboriginal language and culture in the APY lands. Among many forms of recognition, Yami was honoured under the Australian honours system. In the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 1981, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for 'service in the field of Aboriginal welfare'.

By his actions and deeds and by a life characterised by quiet persistence and moral and practical leadership, Yami Lester immeasurably enriched our state. On behalf, I am sure, of all members of this house, I extend my sympathies and condolences to Yami and his family and friends. May this great and humble and inspiring man now rest in his homeland.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!