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Indigenous playwright Jimmy Chi, who penned acclaimed Australian play Bran Nue Dae which was later turned into a major motion picture, has died.
Chi passed away in Broome hospital yesterday afternoon aged 69.
His sister, Maxine, told the ABC he suffered a turn.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised the following story contains images of people who have died.
He was awarded the Western Australian Premier's special book award for Bran Nue Dae in 1991, the same year Tim Winton took out the fiction award for Cloud Street.
The play was turned into a film which premiered in 2009, starring Jessica Mauboy and Rocky Mackenzie.
Chi was made a State Living Treasure in 2004, which recognised him as a creator of landmark Indigenous theatre and as an ambassador for the cultural diversity and energy of Broome.
His father was Chinese-Japanese and his mother a Scottish-Bardi woman from WA's north.
Chi played in the band Kuckles for more than 15 years, and also wrote the acclaimed follow-up play Corrugation Road.
The musical drew heavily on his experiences with mental illness.
Mauboy said she was sad to head about Chi's passing.
"So sad we have lost Uncle Jimmy ... but his dry wit and sharp vision will live on forever in his music," she said.
"My heart is with his mob in Broome."
Chi was awarded the Human Rights Award in the category of Literature and Other Writing for significantly contributing to the understanding of human rights issues in Australia in 1990.
He also won the Australia Council for the Arts' Red Ochre Award for the lifetime achievement of an Indigenous artist in 1997.
Chi is survived by his partner and three children.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, wa, broome-6725
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