Victoria Daly

Distinguished and Famous people from Victoria Daly

🎨 Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann

Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann began working in education as a teacher's aide at Nauiyu's St Francis Xavier School in 1968. She went on to become the Northern Territory's first Aboriginal teacher and, in 1993, the school's principal. Her later study explored bringing traditional and Western education together for Aboriginal children and adults. Art and community leadership developed alongside classroom work, including service on the local council. National recognition followed in the 2021 Senior Australian of the Year award. Her career grew from the daily work of a community school into a wider conversation about education, culture and listening.

🗣️ Vincent Lingiari

Vincent Lingiari led Gurindji pastoral workers and their families off Wave Hill Station on 23 August 1966. Their protest challenged oppressive working and living conditions, but its central demand grew into the return of their land. The families moved to Wattie Creek, now Daguragu, where the campaign continued with practical and political support from people around Australia. Lingiari's leadership made the district central to the national land-rights movement. The walk-off route remains a heritage place, connecting the story to the ground crossed by workers and families rather than leaving it solely as a famous image or slogan.

📻 Barak Sambono

Barak Sambono moved from Darwin to Nauiyu in 1983 with remarkably little luggage: a bag, spare thongs and footy shorts. He went on to become a familiar community voice, taking up the Remote Indigenous Broadcasting Service operator's role in 2009. His programmes supplied music and local news while connecting people through radio. The service formed part of a wider effort to give Aboriginal communities access to and control of their own media. Sambono's story is one of sustained local work, with the everyday tasks of broadcasting helping neighbours stay informed as well as entertained.