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The Central Land Council has expressed its deep sorrow at the passing away of Alyawarre man Kwementyay Gunner at Utopia, 250 kilometers north-east of Alice Springs.
CLC Director David Ross paid tribute to Mr Gunner's campaign to seek justice for the Stolen Generations and his work to progress self-governance for the Aboriginal people of Central Australia .
"We have lost a man of profound courage, whose life was deeply affected by his experience of being a stolen child," he said.
"He underwent further trauma when he took his case to the Federal Court in 1996, and subsequently the High Court in order to seek justice for those who had experienced similar horrors as members of the Stolen Generations.
Tragically, in 2000 the Federal Court found that the Government was not liable for compensation for Mr Gunner and fellow claimant Lorna Cubillo. While Justice O'Loughlin acknowledged the abuse and suffering the pair had undergone as children, he said the Commonwealth had acted in accordance to the laws of the time and there was not enough documentary evidence to support the arguments of the claimants that they had been removed against the wishes of their family.
The Court accepted the Commonwealth Government's argument that Mr Gunner was not forcibly removed as his mother's thumbprint was on an official document. In 2002 the High Court rejected their appeal.
"While they legally lost that case, it brought the issue of the Stolen Generations and the traumas they suffered as children to public attention in Australia and overseas," Mr Ross said.
"Despite the devastation he suffered, Mr Gunner continued to provide leadership to his community and to the Aboriginal people of Central Australia by his commitment to Aboriginal self governance," he said.
Mr Gunner was a driving force behind the Kalkaringi Statement of 1998 which demanded that issues including education, health, justice, land rights and self government should be addressed before the Aboriginal people of Central Australia would agree to statehood for the Northern Territory .
The Kalkaringi Constitutional Convention attracted more than 1000 Aboriginal people and contributed to the defeat of the statehood plebiscite later that year.
"He was a dignified and thoughtful man. Throughout all of his hardships, he maintained his gentle humour and wisdom. We will miss him badly", Mr Ross said.
Mr Gunner was 56.
*(Kwementyay (pronounced Koo - mant - jay is substituted for a person's first name after death in Central Australian Aboriginal law. Its spelling differs according to language group)
5 April 2005
