Roy Tommy (Pitithangu, meaning dry leaf) grew up on Mininer, Mount Vernon and Pingandy pastoral stations. His Yinhawangka name was given to him in traditional song by his grandmother, Maggie Bimba. His mother was the last fluent speaker of Yinhawangka, and in 1980 commenced recording the language, songs, stories, genealogy, birth and burial places, and the names of Yinhawangka lands.
He was a Yinhawangka representative on the YLUA negotiating team, one of the founding 25 members of Gumala Aboriginal Corporation, one of its inaugural Governing Committee members, and has served on the boards of Gumala Aboriginal Corporation and Gumala Enterprises on a number of occasions.
He is working on a project for the preservation of Yinhawangka with assistance from Wangka Maya Language Centre, IBN Corporation, the Yinhawangka Trust and the Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity.
