From the first rainy night 50 years ago, to new generations continuing the push for change: Michael Anderson reflects on the past and future of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
In 1963, the Australian Government took 300 square kilometres of land from the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land to mine bauxite. The Yolngu people reacted by writing the Yirrkala Bark Petitions, which called for broad-ranging reform and recognition of Indigenous ownership.
In 1966, 200 Gurindji stockmen, domestic workers and their families, led by Vincent Lingiari, walked off Wave Hill Station, beginning a seven-year strike fighting for equal pay, conditions, and land ownership.In 1967, a referendum was held on whether to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the census and whether Indigenous people would be subject to Commonwealth laws, rather than just state laws.
Once the group had established themselves in Canberra, they found a gap in the law about camping on Crown Land. Federal MP and Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney said protesters needed to have a good, hard look at themselves.
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