Warning: This article contains the name and images of a deceased Indigenous person.

Prominent Aboriginal leader Uncle Max Harrison has died in a Sydney Covid ward, two weeks after speaking at an anti-vaccination mandate rally.

Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison, a prominent Aboriginal elder, had died in the Covid-19 ward of a Sydney hospital (he did not have CV-19).

Mr Harrison, a Yuin man from NSW’s South Coast … died in Sutherland Hospital on Saturday morning. The 85-year-old died from bronchial asthma and underlying complications …

His death comes just two weeks after Mr Harrison, known as Uncle Max, spoke out against mandatory Covid-19 vaccination at ‘Millions March’ rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park on November 27. Mr Harrison was a highly respected elder, who was known for speaking about Aboriginal culture, connection to land, healing and spirituality. He had previously lectured at the University of Technology Sydney and wrote the 2009 book My People’s Dreaming.

Mr Harrison was the Cultural Advisor for the Informed Medical Options Party (IMOParty), which states its main agenda is to “eliminate mandatory health policies, and to provide the Australian people with choice when it comes to their way of living”.

The IMO Party confirmed Mr Harrison’s death in a statement from founder Michael O’Neill on Saturday, saying he had passed away due to a “recurring illness”. Mr O’Neill said the 85-year-old’s role within the party was to be a voice for Indigenous Australians. The IMO Party claims every second Indigenous child either experienced death or injury as a result of vaccination — a claim not endorsed by any medical body.

Speaking at the ‘Millions March’ rally two weeks ago, Mr Harrison said Australians were “fighting to walk and talk for freedom” due to Covid-19 vaccination mandates. “I don’t recognise the place up on the hill in Canberra because they are not a government, they are a friggin’ corporation posing as a government,” he said. “Each and every speaker here today, they’re doing nothing but speaking truth.“ I’ve gone through the second world war and the rest of the wars in between, but this is the most hardest friggin’ war that I have ever got.”

“He lived through the ‘sorry days’ and ‘genocide’ and wanted to avert another for his brothers and sisters, and for future generations,” Mr O’Neill said. “I remember meeting Uncle Max and being drawn by his cheeky humour and his bravery to stand for the truth regardless of its lack of popularity.

“This will be a hard time for all of us, especially his family and for his partner Marelle Burnum Burnum, who also lost her father this year. “We will do everything we can to support and love her through this tragic time.”

Mr Harrison’s daughter, Cheryl, “He was a very humble person who gave so much to others. He was very family-oriented and leaves behind eight generations of family bloodlines.”