Our Story

Miyarrka Media is a Yolŋu-led intergenerational collective creating futures with Yolŋu Country in northeast Arnhem Land.

We come together to share life through films, exhibitions, books, and long-term creative research grounded in Yolŋu law.

Miyarrka Media was founded in 2009 through the vision and leadership of Paul Gurrumuruwuy, whose spirit continues to guide the collective. Our base is Yalakun homeland.

Our work is sustained through partnerships with Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts, Goŋ-dal Aboriginal Corporation, the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University, and support from the Australian Research Council.

“Through the camera you can see creativity happening.”

— Paul Gurrumuruwuy

Paul Gurrumuruwuy (1956–2025) was a Yolŋu filmmaker, artist, scholar and Dhalwaŋu elder who co-founded Miyarrka Media and guided the collective for almost two decades.

Through films, exhibitions and collaborative research, Gurrumuruwuy explored how cameras and digital media can participate in the creative life of Yolŋu Country.

In 2025 he was posthumously awarded a PhD by Charles Darwin University on the basis of the original research he produced and published with Miyarrka Media. The film Milkum ga Walŋa was submitted as part of this doctoral project.

Paul Gurrumuruwuy Wunungmurra died unexpectedly a couple of months after recording the materials for this film. 

Miyarrka Media edited the film following his vision. 

Often during the editing and translation process family members found themselves overcome by a feeling that he was talking directly to them, perhaps even more than the PhD examiners that the recording had ostensibly been made for. 

They felt moved and encouraged that he was deliberately giving specific directions to the next generation as they took on not only the leadership of Miyarrka Media.

Despite certain cultural restrictions, Paul’s full name and image have been used throughout this site at the request of his family who are, in turn, following his own wishes for his legacy to be shared.