Mark Bin Bakar is an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

musician, comedian and radio announcer, writer, director/producer as well as an indigenous rights campaigner based in Broome, in the

Kimberley region The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He is best known for his radio and television character, the acid-tongued Mary Geddarrdyu or Mary G, who has gained a national cult following and has been described as a

Dame Edna Everage Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and performed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, th ...

in thongs. In character Mary G has hosted a radio program and hosted a

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

broadcast nationally on

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

Career

Mary G

The son of a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Indigenous mother and a

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

father from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, Bakar created the character Mary G as a

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...

woman like his mother. She first featured on Bin Bakar's radio show in Broome at Radio Goolarri in 1993 where she tackled issues of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

sexual health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, healthcare, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual wellbeing during all stages of their life. The term can also be further de ...

and

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Sculpture * ''Reconciliation'' (Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture), a sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos in Coventry Cathedra ...

, and was particularly popular with aboriginal women. The Mary G show has played at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

and at festivals and conferences right around Australia. The Mary G show has also travelled to rural and remote communities across the country, including an extensive tour right across W A. Bakar continues to present the Mary G radio show for three hours every Wednesday night; it is broadcast to over 100 radio stations via the

National Indigenous Radio Service The National Indigenous Radio Service (NIRS) is a satellite program feed available in Australia to Indigenous and non-Indigenous community radio stations. NIRS provides targeted and specialist programming for and by Australia's Aboriginal and ...

(NIRS). He also tours across the country with his live

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

show. He is only able to combine these two activities because he carries a portable radio studio whenever he leaves home base in Broome.

Music

Bakar was the founder of ''Stompen Ground'', a musical event that was held in Broome and televised nationally. Mary G won a

Deadly Award The Deadly Awards, commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. The event was held from 1995 to 2013. Description T ...

in 2005 for Excellence in Film or Theatrical Score. Bakar is a talented musician in his own right and was in WA Indigenous bands such as 'Section 54' and 'Footprince'. Twenty years ago, Bakar established Ab Music in Perth; Ab Music is a place for teaching Aboriginal people to be musicians.

Activism

Bakar has also been actively involved in seeking justice for members of the

; part of this involvement has been through chairing the Kimberley Stolen Generations Corporation. He has also produced two albums of songs about the Stolen Generations. Bakar was also an inaugural deputy convenor of the 'Stolen Generations Alliance' formed in 2006. On 11 July 2007, he did a three-hour show with

The Pigram Brothers The Pigram Brothers are a seven-piece Indigenous Australian band from the pearling town of Broome, Western Australia, formed in 1996. They were heavily involved in Broome's musical and theatrical exports – forming the original backing band f ...

, also from Broome, and other musicians in the Berrimah Jail, Darwin. This was broadcast live over the NIRS Network; this concert broadcast is without precedent, being the first national broadcast of a 'jail concert'. In 2009 he appeared at the one movement concert for aboriginal reconciliation. Bakar gave a number of keynote addresses in 2006 and 2007, including a speech given in the Great Hall of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

house in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Sorry Day National Sorry Day, or the National Day of Healing, is an annual event that has been held in Australia on 26 May since 1998. The event remembers and commemorates the mistreatment of the country's Indigenous peoples as part of an ongoing proces ...

2007.

Awards

In 2007, Bakar was honoured to be named the NAIDOC Person of the year in recognition of his work. Also in 2007, it was announced that Bakar was "West Australian of the Year", which made him a finalist for

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

in 2008.

References

*Something Mary, ''Broome Happenings'', 13 January 2006, p. 3

External links

The Black Queen of the Kimberley, Mary GDeadlys nomination 2005Mary G's Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bin Bakar, Mark Australian radio presenters Indigenous Australians from Western Australia Living people Australian indigenous rights activists Australian people of Malay descent Australian people of Singaporean descent Australian Muslims Australian male comedians Australian satirists Muslim male comedians Year of birth missing (living people)