From 1989 to 1996, he served as a sworn officer of the Northern Territory Police Service, retiring with the rank of Constable First Class and a commendation for bravery. Gumbula apprenticed as carpenter in his teens, and moved to GaliwinвЂ™ku in 1971, where he became a lifetime member of the seminal YolЕ‹u country and gospel band, Soft Sands. Researching the representation of his parents and grandparents in ethnographic and art collections worldwide became the passion of his lifeвЂ™s work.

Honey from the paperbark treeД«orn in MiliЕ‹inbi (Milingimbi) in 1954, Gumbula was descended from a prominent line of YolЕ‹u leaders of the GupapuyЕ‹u clan from northeast Arnhem Land, whose contributions to understanding between Indigenous and other Australians have been influential since the 1920s. His voice has joined the ancestral chorus at Djiliwirri, where he dwells for all of time, and there, within the living environment, his songs can still be heard by those who attend to listen. Now, his name is Birrku da, the Honeybee. Gumbula, who passed away in 2015, was one of AustraliaвЂ™s greatest thinkers. Gumbula with his family receiving his honorary Doctor of Music degree at the University of Sydney in 2007. His nose is beeswax, and his mouth is the entrance to the beehive. His head and all his knowledge are honeycomb from the hive of the Honeybee ancestor, Birrku da.

His white hair is made of the fine wispy roots of the paperbark tree and the foam they produce in the swamp during the Wet Season at Djiliwirri. His spine is the pathway worn through the scrub by the koel cuckoo.

Joe my name is joe rare