Major Lancelot Sumner AM (born 1948), also known as Uncle Moogy, is an Aboriginal Australian elder, cultural adviser, dancer, and environmental activist in South Australia.

Early life and education

Major Lancelot Sumner ^[1] was born in 1948 on Point McLeay mission on the shore of Lake Alexandrina in South Australia. ^[2] He is of the Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna peoples, ^[3] with particular knowledge of and affiliation to Ngarrindjeri culture. ^[1]

Career

"Uncle Moogy" is an elder, dancer, cultural ambassador, ^[2] and activist, ^[4] who works to further Ngarrindjeri culture. Apart from traditional dance and song, cultural advice, he creates and advises on various traditional arts and crafts, including wood carving, and combat methods that employ traditional shields, clubs, boomerangs, and spears. ^[2] He has also worked to develop local, national, and international communities over many decades, and has become a community leader. ^[5] In his later years, he has been heavily involved with the repatriation and reburial of Aboriginal people's remains from overseas institutions. ^[6]

Sumner has campaigned to save the major Australian river systems and against drilling for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight. ^[2]

In 2010 Sumner initiated the inaugural "Ringbalin Murrundi" Rover Spirit project, which relit the ceremonial fires along ancient Aboriginal trade routes of the Darling and Murray Rivers. ^[5]

In 2011, Sumner crafted the first Ngarrindjeri bark canoe, dubbed "Moogy's Yuki", on Country in over a century. ^{[5] [2]}

Uncle Moogy often performs Welcomes to Country at various major events. He danced and spoke at the launch of the South Australian Voice to Parliament in Adelaide March 2023, ^[7] and performed the Welcome at the launch of the Yes campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in a northern suburb of the same city in August 2023. ^[8]

He also engages in environmental activism, with particular reference to the Murray-Darling basin. In November 2023, he was part of a delegation who went to Canberra to lobby the government on the issue of river health. ^[9]

Sumner has worked closely with the South Australian Museum on the repatriation of human remains to country, ^{[10] [11]} and was instrumental in the establishment of Wangayarta, a burial ground for Kaurna ancestors in Smithfield Memorial Park in the northern Adelaide suburb of Evanston South. ^{[12] [13]}

In April 2024, Sumner was elected to the South Australian Voice to Parliament, topping the votes in his ward. ^{[14] [15]} He had previously campaigned for a "Yes" vote in the 2023 referendum for a national Indigenous Voice to Parliament. ^[16]

Other roles

Summer holds or has held the following roles:

• Board member of the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority ^[5]
• Board member of Black Dance Australia ^[5]
• Founder and artistic director of Tal Kin Jeri (or Talkindjeri) dance group ^[5] since 1992 ^[6]
• Worked with the Aboriginal Sobriety Group from 1980; co-founded the Sober Walk Initiative in 2009 ^[6]
• Member of the South Australian Aboriginal Advisory Council from 2011 ^[6] until at least end 2020 ^[17]
• Member of the World Archaeological Congress ^{[17] [18]}
• Member of the World Council of Elders ^{[17] [18]}

Recognition and honours

He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day honours in 2014, "For significant service to the Indigenous community of South Australia through contributions to health, social welfare, youth and cultural heritage organisations". ^{[19] [6]}

In November 2020, Sumner was recognised as Elder of the Year in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield's ATSI Awards, ^[a] in which he was described as a "world-renowned performer and cultural ambassador of Ngarrindjeri arts, crafts, martial arts and traditional culture", "highly respected Elder", "local ambassador for Aboriginal people and culture within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and the broader western Adelaide suburbs... an international, national and local icon". ^[17]

In 2021 won the Premier of South Australia's NAIDOC Award. ^{[20] [2]}

In 2022, Sumner awarded a lifetime achiever award South Australian Environment Awards, and was inducted into the SA Environment Hall of Fame. ^{[2] [5]}

In 2023, the Adelaide Film Festival bestowed him with the Bettison & James Award. ^[21]

Personal life

A previous resident of Millicent in the South East of the state, ^[14] Sumner lives and works in Adelaide and at Camp Coorong. ^[18]

Footnotes

References