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Dooley (Winyirin) Bin Bin (c. 1900–1982)

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Dooley Bin Bin, also known as Winyirin (c.1900-1982) Aboriginal community leader and pastoral worker 

Birth: about 1900 in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia, son of an Aboriginal woman, Martukaninykaniny, His father’s name is not recorded. Death: 24 December 1982 at Port Hedland, W.A. 

  • Indigenous leader of Aboriginal Pastoral Workers Strike in Pilbara, 1946.
  • Held high traditional status, widely respected lawman.
  • Received a gaol sentence of three months hard labour in May 1946. Released in June after public campaign, but continued agitation in Port Hedland.
  • Later member of Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, peace activist and campaigner against United States of America bases in Australia.
  • Prominent advocate of need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people to join European trade unions. 

Sources
Building Worker, May 1963; Michael Hess, The Pilbara Aboriginal Pastoral Workers Uprising of 1946, Paper presented in Australian-Canadian Labour History Conference, Sydney, December 1988.

This person appears as a part of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 17. [View Article]

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Citation details

'Bin Bin, Dooley (Winyirin) (c. 1900–1982)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/bin-bin-dooley-winyirin-12210/text44359, accessed 15 June 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Birth

c. 1900
Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia, Australia

Death

24 December, 1982 (aged ~ 82)
Port Hedland, Western Australia, Australia

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

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