Northern Territory icon Ted Egan dies age 93

Northern Territory icon Ted Egan has died aged 93, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy spanning music, Aboriginal rights advocacy and his role as the Territory's administrator.

Ted Egan. Picture: Supplied

A true Northern Territory icon has died, leaving a legacy which spans from music to football, government and history.

Edward Joseph ‘Ted’ Egan AO, aged 93, died in Alice Springs on the morning of December 4, 2025.

In a statement, his family said they would miss him enormously.

“It is with sadness, but also great pride that Nerys Evans and the Egan family marks the passing of our beloved partner, Dad, grandfather, great grandfather and best mate Ted Egan,” the statement said.

“Ted passed peacefully at home this morning as was his wish. We shared Ted with Territorians, Australians and the wider world.

“He lived a big and very generous life, spanning 93 years.”

Born in Victoria in 1932, Mr Egan is remembered for his 30 albums, his countless published books, and for his time as the Territory’s 16th administrator, a position he held from 2003 to 2007.

Listed as a “living treasure” by the National Trust, Mr Egan is the son of two Irish Catholics - Joseph Egan and Grace Brennon.

A young Ted Egan with an early St Mary's team in Darwin, a club he helped form, in the 1950s. Picture: Supplied

He moved to the Territory in 1949, where through his love of football he formed a club in Darwin – which is now known as St Mary’s.

But the new footy club separated itself from the rest: it also allowed Aboriginal men to play.

It was point that “drastically” changed Mr Egan’s life, he previously told this masthead.

“That was the most important thing that happened to me. My life changed drastically as a consequence. I was 20 years old, and there were only a couple of white blokes, and the rest were full blood Tiwi Aboriginals,” he said in an interview in 2021.

Through football, Mr Egan became proficient in Tiwi, leading to him gaining employment with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

“I went to Arnhem Land, and the ceremonial life there was stronger than any I’d seen in Australia. They had an affinity with the land. The court case found that they didn’t own the land, but the land owned them. I believe that is the case to this day,” he said in 2021.

Ted Egan & Nerys Evans at the 2023 NT Sport Awards. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

However, a profound experience in 1966 forever altered his life, he said, and set him on a course which placed him right in the centre of one of the most defining moments in Aboriginal land rights history within the nation.

In 1966, Vincent Lingiari led the wave hill walk off, and Mr Egan, working with the council of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra, provided the link between the brave strikers and the powerbrokers within the capital.

The struggle led him to write ‘Gurindji Blues’: a protest song in support of the strike, with Mr Lingiari giving the introduction on the track when it was recorded.

In 1974, Mr Egan was the one to tell the Wave Hill strikers they would be given a lease for the land.

Afterwards, he made the move to Alice Springs, where he resided for the past 50 years.

In Central Australia, he focused on his music career, while also authoring a number of books – and making appearances on TV, narrating, presenting and interview for many episodes of This Land Australia and co-hosting The Great Outdoors.

With his music career, he was awarded a Golden Guitar, and he also holds a lifetime achievement award for country music.

Ted Egan at the 49th Top Half Folk Festival. Picture: Barry Skipsey

Then, in 2003, he became the NT Administrator, a position he held for four years, while in 2004 he was made an Officer of the order of Australia (AO).

The AO recognises citizens who have made an outstanding contribution to the country.

He also held an honorary doctorate from Charles Darwin University, alongside holding a Masters degree in history, and being inducted into the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

But despite the accolades, Mr Egan had a vision which he never lost sight of, even in his final years.

An advocate for unity, Mr Egan, through one of the last books he wrote, believed he’d found a new date for Australia Day: September 8.

His book, titled Foundation Day, details how Bungaree, an Indigenous man from the Sydney region, and Matthew Flinders successfully completed the first circumnavigation of the new continent which would come to be known as Australia.

Bungaree and Mr Flinders completed the circumnavigation on September 8, 1803, on board with HMS Investigator.

“Flinders was also the first to refer to Aboriginals as Australians, so Bungaree can be regarded as the first First Australian, certainly the first Australian-born person, to circumnavigate the continent,” Mr Egan said last year.

Mr Egan is survived by his wife Nerys, four children, seven grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren.

It is understood Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has reached out to Mr Egan’s family to pass on her condolences and offer a State Funeral to honour his life, which has been accepted.

Originally published as Northern Territory icon Ted Egan dies age 93