Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann
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Ungunmerr-Baumann in 2021
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| Born | 1950 (age 73–74) |
| Occupation(s) | Aboriginal activist, educator and artist |
| 2021 Senior Australian of the Year | |
| Preceded by | John Newnham |
| Succeeded by | Valmai Dempsey |
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Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann AM (born 1950) is an Australian Aboriginal activist, educator and artist of the Ngan’gityemerri language group. Ungunmerr-Baumann is the first Indigenous teacher to work in the Northern Territory.[1] and the owner of Rak Malfiyin Homeland.[2] She is also the first Indigenous Australian woman to visit Antarctica.[3] Ungunmerr-Baumann is a "devout Christian" and much of her artwork reflects religious themes.[2] In 2021, she was named Senior Australian of the Year.[4]
Ungunmerr-Baumann was born in 1950 in Daly River.[5] She was baptized as a Catholic when she was fifteen.[6] As a teenager, she worked as a domestic servant to a teacher who eventually employed her as an assistant teacher.[6] She attended Kormilda College to become a teacher.[5] Ungunmerr-Baumann became the first Indigenous teacher in the Northern Territory in 1975. She used art in her classroom, encouraging children to express themselves.[5] She attended Deakin University and in 1988, received a Bachelor of Arts.[5] In 1993, she became the principal of St. Francis Xavier Catholic School.
Ungunmerr-Baumann became a Member of the Order of Australia in 1998 for her "role in promoting Aboriginal education and art."[7][5] She was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the Northern Territory University in 2002.[6]
Ungunmerr-Baumann's work uses both Indigenous techniques and "western acrylics."[6] She has worked to encourage elders in Aboriginal communities to pass along artistic techniques to the younger generation.[8]
