Trailblazing Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupiŋu posthumously awarded Companion of the Order of Australia

One of Australia's most influential Aboriginal leaders has posthumously received the nation's highest civilian honour, two years after his death in the remote Northern Territory.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died, used in accordance with the wishes of his family.

Late Gumatj clan leader Galarrwuy Yunupiŋu was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia on Thursday by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who acknowledged he may never have wanted the recognition.

"This may be an award that Dr Yunupiŋu would not have really seen as necessary, or seen as adding to the way in which he lived his life," Ms Mostyn said.

"In a way, it's an important thing that we are doing, in acknowledging his life through a [Western] system that must sit alongside something else, [his Yolŋu law and land]."

Dr Yunupiŋu was a lifelong fighter for Aboriginal land rights and economic development, who had the ear of successive prime ministers, from Billy McMahon to Anthony Albanese.

In 1978 he was named Australian of the Year for his role in negotiations between the Commonwealth and the Mirarr people over mining on the edge of Kakadu National Park.

Ms Mostyn travelled to Dr Yunupiŋu's home community of Gunyaŋara in north-east Arnhem Land to present the honour, surrounded by clan leaders of the Gove peninsula.

"[For many decades] he was involved in all of the very big debates about Indigenous rights, about land, about respect," Ms Mostyn said.

"He also, I think, brought to the rest of us the learning of how we can work together in two worlds.

"We remember him and we celebrate him for that work, but [also] as a great Australian who never gave up on the idea that Australia could still do better, if we could find a way to live with each other with respect and harmony."

As the medal was handed over, Dr Yunupiŋu's daughter Binmila Yunupiŋu shed tears, as a photo of her late father looked down from above.

One of Dr Yunupiŋu's lasting achievements is the annual Garma Festival, which he founded alongside his brother, late Yothu Yindi frontman Mandawuy Yunupiŋu, 25 years ago.