Rosalie Lynette Kunoth-Monks (4 January 193726 January 2022), also known as Ngarla Kunoth, was an Australian film actress, Aboriginal activist and politician.

Early life

Rosalie Lynette Kunoth was born on 4 January 1937 in

Utopia, Northern Territory Utopia is an Aboriginal Australian homeland area formed in November 1978 by the amalgamation of the former Utopia pastoral lease with a tract of unalienable land to its north. It covers an area of , transected by the Sandover River, and lies o ...

(''Arapunya''), to parents of the

Anmatyerre The Anmatyerr, also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages. Language Anmatyerr is divided into Easte ...

people. Her paternal grandfather, Harry Kunoth, was German, hence her German surname.TV program script of interview with Kunoth-Monks, He and her grandmother,

Amelia Kunoth Amelia Kunoth née Pavey ( 1880s – 1984) was an Aboriginal Australian woman who developed well-known cattle stations in Central Australia, including Utopia, Bond Springs, Hamilton Downs and Tempe Downs. Early life Kunoth was the granddaug ...

, co-managed several

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

s in the Northern Territory.

Acting career

In 1951, Kunoth was 14 and staying at St Mary's Hostel in

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

when the filmmakers

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Elsa Chauvel Elsa Chauvel, (''née'' Elsie May Wilcox; 10 February 1898 – 22 August 1983) was an Australian filmmaker and actress, and the wife and collaborator of film director Charles Chauvel. Elsa Chauvel was a pioneer in Australian film making, best ...

recruited her to play the title role in their 1955 film ''

Jedda ''Jedda'', released in the UK as ''Jedda the Uncivilized'', is a 1955 Australian film written, produced and directed by Charles Chauvel. His last film, it is notable for being the first to star two Aboriginal actors, Robert Tudawali and Ngarla ...

''.Lockwood, Douglas (1970) ''We, the Aborigines'', Walkabout Pocketbooks. Her nickname was "Rosie", but the Chauvels changed her name for the screen to Ngarla Kunoth. Kunoth was the first

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 ...

female lead. The groundbreaking film was played for audiences at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

60 years later in 2015. This experience inspired the play and TV play ''

Burst of Summer ''Burst of Summer'' is a 1959 play by Oriel Gray. It won the 1959 J. C. Williamson's Little Theatre Guild Award, and was later adapted for radio and TV. It was Gray's last produced play. Plot In 1955, racial tensions erupt in a small to ...

''.

Activism and politics

Kunoth spent 10 years from 1960 as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

in the

Community of the Holy Name The Community of the Holy Name (CHN) is an international Anglican religious order for women. The full name of the community is The Community of the Mission Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus, usually shortened to Community of the Holy Name. The o ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. She then left the order, married Bill Monks and began employment at the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, setting up the first home in Victoria for Aboriginal children. She had a daughter, Ngarla. Returning to the Alice Springs region, she worked for

Aboriginal Hostels Limited Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

, the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service and the

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (1990–2005) was the Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were formally involved in the processes of government affecting ...

. The then

Chief Minister of the Northern Territory The chief minister of the Northern Territory is the head of government of the Northern Territory. The office is the equivalent of a state premier. When the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was created in 1974, the head of government wa ...

Paul Everingham Paul Anthony Edward Everingham (born 4 February 1943) is a former Australian politician who was the head of government of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1977 to 1984, serving as the second and last Majority Leader (1977–1978) and ...

, appointed her as an adviser on Aboriginal affairs. Kunoth stood for election to the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member electorates for four-year terms. The voting method fo ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

. She campaigned to oppose the proposed construction of a dam that threatened to destroy land sacred to her people. She lost that election but went on to continuing activism working to improve the lives of indigenous people. In 1999 she was appointed vice chair of the council of the

Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE, generally known as Batchelor Institute and formerly known as Batchelor College) provides training and further education, and higher education for Aboriginal Australians and Torres St ...

and subsequently became chair of the council. By 2008, she had returned to the Utopia homelands, north-east of Alice Springs, and in that year became president of

Barkly Shire The Barkly Region, formerly Barkly Shire, is a local government area of the Northern Territory of Australia, administered by the Barkly Regional Council. The region's main town is Tennant Creek. The region covers an area of and had a populati ...

. In August 2008, 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 ...

for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, she denounced federal government intervention in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

as a "huge violation of human rights", displacing "more Indigenous people from their traditional lands, depriving them of opportunities to speak their native language and severing links with

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

culture. Our beings are very fragile. We disagree with being herded by the army into the big centres". Two months later, she said: "It's not that they're coming here with bulldozers or getting the army to move us. It's that they're trying to starve us out of our home... They won't support us becoming sustainable in our own right. If you're made to feel a second-class humanity, if it's not

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

, please let me know what is". Utopia, which is known for its

dot painting Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...

s, was trying to start its own cattle business and wanted to be a cultural centre, she said. At the 2013 federal election, Kunoth-Monks stood unsuccessfully as a senate candidate in the Northern Territory on behalf of the

First Nations Political Party Australia's First Nations Political Party (AFNPP), also known as The First Nations Political Party, was an List of political parties in Australia, Australian political party founded in 2010 and federally registered with the Australian Electoral ...

. In November 2014, Kunoth-Monks was a significant influence in bringing together with

Tauto Sansbury Tauto Sansbury (c. 1949 – 23 September 2019) was a Narungga man from the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia. He was the recipient of the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 NAIDOC Week celebrations. Sansbury was born and raised on an ...

a national gathering of Indigenous leaders to unite in the '"fight" for their lands – the "Freedom Movement" – in Alice Springs.

Media appearances

On 9 June 2014 Rosalie Kunoth-Monks appeared on ABC TV's Q&A where she delivered her withering and now well-known "I am not the problem" speech.

Death

Kunoth-Monks died in Alice Springs on 26 January 2022, aged 85. She was given a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...

in Alice Springs on 3 March 2022, which was attended by hundreds of people.

Michael Gunner Michael Patrick Francis Gunner (born 6 January 1976) is an Australian politician and was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held his se ...

, the

, began his eulogy with her famous words from her 2014 appearance on ABC TV's Q&A: "Don't try and suppress me. I am not the problem. I have never left my country, nor have I ever ceded any part of it". Central Desert councillor Jeff Iversen described her as "a hero and a

national treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

Recognition and honours

*1993 – Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

, for service to the Aboriginal community. *8 March 2007 (

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

) – presented with a "Northern Territory Tribute to Women Award" at the opening of the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame in Alice Springs *26 June 2014 –

Dr. Yunupingu Award for Human Rights The National Indigenous Human Rights Awards are annual Australian awards that recognise the contribution of Indigenous Australians to human rights and social justice. The ceremony takes place in Sydney, New South Wales. History The National Ind ...

at the inaugural

National Indigenous Human Rights Awards The National Indigenous Human Rights Awards are annual Australian awards that recognise the contribution of Indigenous Australians to human rights and social justice. The ceremony takes place in Sydney, New South Wales. History The National Ind ...

*26 January 2015 – 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 ...

after being awarded Northern Territorian of the Year *10 July 2015 – NAIDOC Person of the Year during the

NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week ( ) is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, which was originally National Aborigines Day ...

celebrations *November 2015 – subject of a tribute song on social media, "She Came Along", composed by Paul "Nultatjarra" Dixon