Hobbles Danayarri
(1925-1988) Aboriginal lawman and community leader
Hobbles Danayarri (c. 1925 – 24 March 1988) was a Mudburra man, born on Wave Hill Station, Northern Territory, Australia and he was a stockman, Aboriginal lawman and community leader.
Life in the Northern Territory
Danayarri's totem was the barramundi and it is said that when his father speared the fish, and his mother ate it, the spirit of the fish became Danayarri. This was evidenced by a small mark on the right side of his forehead which showed where the fish had been speared. He was born into relationship with country and grew up learning his culture and living with his people; as a part of this he learned songs, visited sacred places and performed ritual associated with his land. He became a respected lawman.
As a young man Danayarri begun working on Wave Hill and Victoria River Downs Stations as a stockman and became aware of the injustices of this kind of work for his people. This was driven home for Danayarri before he even began working as, when he was only a small boy, still held on his father's shoulders, he went to watch Aboriginal men and women, directed by a white overseer, constructing a dam using back breaking labour. There he saw the clear demarcation of the food, clothing and types of work done by the two groups.
When he began working as a stockman he, and the other workers, did not receive adequate wages and faced discrimination as Aboriginal people.
“Hobbles Danayarri” enters the record as (1925-1988) Aboriginal lawman and community leader. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hobbles, Danayarri and 1925-1988 can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hobbles Danayarri” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hobbles, Danayarri and 1925-1988 provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21539090. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1925 and 1988.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hobbles Danayarri”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hobbles Danayarri primary sources, Hobbles Danayarri archive and Hobbles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hobbles Danayarri”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hobbles Danayarri” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.