Major Sumner bridges ancient and modern South Australian Aboriginal and environmental activism
Major Sumner was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in 2014 for his significant service to the Aboriginal communities in South Australia.
Main image courtesy Ngarrindjeri culture.org
Major Sumner has been active in both the ancient Aboriginal and modern spheres during the 21st Century in South Australia.
A Greens party candidate for both the Australian parliament’s senate and the Adelaide Hills seat of Mayo, Sumner has been a world renowned performer and cultural ambassador for the arts, crafts, martial arts and traditional culture of the Ngarrindjeri, traditional Aboriginal people of South Australia’s lower Murray River, western Fleurieu Peninsula and the Coorong. His work spans performance, traditional dance and song, cultural advice, and arts and crafts, such as wood carving, and martial arts techniques using his handcrafted traditional shields, clubs, boomerangs and spears.
He also is a strong supporter of innovative art and has featured in many media productions and cultural collaborations. In 2011, Sumner crafted the first Ngarrindjeri bark canoe on Ngarrindjeri/ Boandik country for more than 100 years, reconnecting with traditional canoe-building while using a high-tech cherry picker to get up the tree. In 201, he initiated the inaugural Ringbalin Murrundi Rover Spirit project, reigniting the ceremonial fires along ancient trade routes of the Darling and Murray rivers, now continuing arts project.
Sumner has served as a Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority board member, as board member of Black Dance Australia, Tal Kin Jeri dance group artistic director and on the advisory group for the South Australian Film Corporation’s Aboriginal film strategy.
Sumner was involved in bringing ancestral remains from London and Scotland back to Ngarrindjeri country. He has met with collecting institutions in the United Kingdom about repatriation for the remains of about 600 Aboriginal people.
He is also a member of the World Council of Elders. Sumner was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in 2014 for his significant service to the Aboriginal communities in South Australia.