Malcolm Jagamarra

Malcolm Jagamarra was born in the Austalian outback in 1954. He is the son of Minnie Napanangka, a
warlpiri woman and Gerry Maloney an Irish Bushman. As a child he traveled the land on walk about with his mother and families. They lived the traditional way, which is more than 40,000 years old. At the time as part of the 'Aboriginbal Assimilation Program', all part aboriginal children were taken from their families and placed in white environments. Becasue of this Jagamarra's mother would hide him in the bush whenever they visited a white homestead. At the age of six, Jagamarra was discovered by the authorities and taken to Adelaide where he spent the next eightteen years. He matriculated from Adelaide Boys High School in 1972 and starred in League Football for North Adelaide until 1975. In 1978 he returned to Alice Springs and was reunited with his family for the first time since 1960. Jagamarra underwent the initiation ceremonies into manhood that he missed as a boy, in 1983. It was then that he learned the sacred songs and dances of his tribe, the Lander River Warlpiri.