Joy Murphy Wandin

Who is Joy Murphy Wandin?

Joy Murphy Wandin is an Indigenous Australian, Senior Wurundjeri elder of the Kulin alliance in Victoria, Australia. She has given the traditional welcome to country greeting at many Melbourne events and to many distinguished visitors where she says in the Woiwurrung language "Wominjeka Wurundjeri Balluk yearmenn koondee bik".

Born in Healesville, Joy Murphy Wandin's family never left Wurundjeri land and she is the great-great niece to William Barak, the last traditional ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri-willam clan. Her older brother James Wandin, who once played football with St Kilda Football Club in the 1950s, was the ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri until his death in February 2006.

Her father, Jarlo Wandoon, tried to enlist for World War 1, but was rejected due to being an aborigine. When he attempted to enlist under his whitefella name, James Wandin, he was accepted into the army and served overseas and is listed under that name on the honour roll in the Healesville RSL. Joy Murphy Wandin told the story of her father's enlistment, and subsequent dispossession and separation from family with the closure of Coranderrk in 1923 in her Welcome to country speech when John Howard, as Australian Prime Minister, visited Healesville.