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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-03 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

MR KUNMANARA LANGKA PETER

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:07): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. CAICA: On behalf of the house, I would like to acknowledge the passing of Mr Kunmanara Langka Peter, Pitjantjatjara elder, ngangkari or 'healing hands', teacher and leader, who was taken from us suddenly on 3 February 2012. We extend sincere condolences to his family and to Anangu Tjuta. I would also like to welcome and acknowledge Annie, a family member who is here today, as well as friends who are present in the house with us today.

Mr Kunmanara Peter was born around 1940 in the bush near Shirley Well, Fregon community in the APY lands. He was given ngangkari powers from his grandfather, Peter, who worked as a stockman, as well as a ngangkari. He learned the skills of a ngangkari by studying the work of his three grandfathers, his father and other family members who were also ngangkari. Beginning school at the Ernabella Mission as a nine-year-old boy, he returned to Shirley Well over summer to continue working with his grandfathers.

As a young man, he worked as a stockman at Kenmore Park Station, a life he loved very much. I understand that, throughout his life, he was well known for being immaculately dressed in his impressive cowboy shirts, boots and hats. Mr Kunmanara Peter married in the 1950s, and he and his wife had two sons and many grandchildren and great grandchildren followed. He has a large extended family in the APY lands and cross-border area, as well as many other relatives living to the south of the lands.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when Anangu were fighting to regain their land, Mr Kunmanara Peter worked hard to establish services at Fregon community, leading many community initiatives, involving better governance, employment and education for his people. He worked as a ngangkari throughout his life, and he had a longstanding relationship with the Nganampa Health Council, especially its Fregon clinic. He was never too tired to help, and he indicated that he did his work because it made him happy to see sick people get better—work which he carried out with warmth, humour and charisma.

He was sought by the NPY Women's Council as the number one ngangkari in the region. In 1999, he was one of the first to work full time as a ngangkari across Australia, his work taking him to many regions, from Warburton to Ceduna in the west, to Finke in the east, to Port Lincoln in the south. He also visited Anangu in hospitals, gaols, nursing homes, mental health units and hostels in Alice Springs, Port Augusta, Adelaide and Kalgoorlie.

Mr Kunmanara Peter believed very strongly that the best way to help Anangu with health problems was by ngangkari and doctors and nurses working together. As a lifetime practitioner as a ngangkari, Mr Kunmanara Peter's work has accomplished a high degree of respect for cultural knowledge and practice. This has contributed to an important exchange among colleagues across various disciplines of healing, particularly for ngangkari, medical doctors and mental health practitioners and counsellors.

Mr Kunmanara Peter developed a strong relationship with the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, supporting the Indigenous doctors and medical students and travelling with them to Canada, New Zealand and Hawaii, where he met Indigenous doctors from other parts of the world. Mr Kunmanara Peter also travelled to Canada and Alaska to examine issues around petrol sniffing in other Indigenous communities.

Mr Kunmanara Peter was the embodiment of reconciliation. He was regarded as a master of mediation and reconciliation, being able to build a bridge of understanding for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. He is held in the highest regard by the Aboriginal community and by medical professionals nationally and internationally. He is also held in the highest regard by Aboriginal people for his unparalleled healing abilities and for driving a major shift in the understanding and acceptance of Aboriginal traditional healing through his public speaking and educational work.

Mr Kunmanara Peter's funeral was held at Fregon Community in March this year, a ceremony at which the Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, the Hon. Ian Hunter, and I were honoured to represent the government. Mr Kunmanara Peter will be lovingly remembered by his family and many others, and our thoughts are with those many who mourn the loss of their loved one.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Can I again pass on my deepest sympathy to the family. It is nice to see Mr Bill Edwards here too, who has done so much for Pitjantjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra people, and still continues to do so.

Can I remind the cameramen that they are only to film people on their feet; I understand there has been some filming of others in the house. Only people on their feet are to be filmed.

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