The Gurindji Walk Off to Aboriginal land rights was impacted historically, significantly, socially and politically. In 1966 the Gurindji people walked off Lord Vestey’s Wave Hill cattle station to protest against poor wages and living conditions. Instead of accepting these circumstances, they made the decision to walk off the station to a nearby creek where they set up a camp. This strike also sought the return of the Gurindji’s ancestral lands, and was the first such case recognised by Australian law. The effect of the Gurindji Walk Off can be seen through its causes of unfair pay and working conditions and land rights and as well as the events that occurred in 1975 and their long term impacts.
The immediate cause of the strike was the rejection
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In 1975 the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam gave Vincent Lingiari a handful of soil to represent the restoration of Gurindji land to its rightful owners. Nine years previously, Vincent Lingiari had led the Gurindji people in a strike since they had walked off the Wave Hill Cattle station. Their 1966 strike action was one of the first major events of the land rights campaign and now nine years later they had been presented with their wish of control and ownership of their land. Also in 1975, the Racial Discrimination Act was passed by the Federal government. This was Australia's first instance of human rights legislation and was part of the recognition of the new multi-cultural society that Gough Whitlam wanted to disseminate. Australia had signed up to the International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1966, but the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was the first time that anti-discrimination legislation was laid down in the Federal parliament. The legislation meant that any previous discriminatory laws were automatically overturned and that that no restrictions, exclusions or distinctions could be made in Australian society on the basis of race, colour, nationality or descent. Whitlam saw it as a victory over bigotry and prejudice, and not just solely aimed at improving the lives of the Indigenous peoples. Many people also saw the events of 1975 as another milestone on the road towards equality for the Aboriginal
Vincent Lingiari and the wave hill strike is another significant person and event in the aboriginal civil rights movement becoming a national iconic figure representing the struggles of Aboriginals having their land recognised. Vincent Lingiari was an aboriginal man part of the Gurindji people who worked in the Wave-Hill cattle-farm in the Northern Territory. The working and living conditions there were very poor for the Aboriginals and were paid much less than non-aboriginals were. On 23 August 1966 tired of the poor treatment, Lingiari decided to go on strike along with 200 other Gurindji people, the strike lasted nine years, the longest in Australian history. Later on The Gurindji people did not care about better wages anymore and they
The first year of the protest, between August 1966 and mid-1967, there was some conversations between Gurindji Aboriginal Tribe workers and Dexter Daniels, the North Australian Workers' Union Aboriginal organiser that led to the initial walk off. The next year the group moved to Wattie Creek, an area of ancestral linkages to the Gurindji people. They asked Frank Hardy to 'make a sign' which included the word 'Gurindji', their own name for themselves. Although most of these stockmen and their families could not read, they understood the power of the white man's signs. Now their name for themselves, written on a sign, asserted a claim to Gurindji lands.
The station’s land encompassed Gurindji country, and the Gurindji people were taken on as cheap workers. In the 1960s, conditions became poor for Aboriginal workers. They received under minimal wages, had poor working and living conditions and disrespectful treatment. Vincent Lingiari, who was an Aboriginal rights activist, thought it was the time to make a change.
In 1972 the Prime Minister at the time Gough Whitlam began to make laws such as the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 for Indigenous Australians. It introduced the policy of self-determination which significantly increased funding for Aboriginal affairs and created a commission to investigate land
In the 1980’s, national campaigns for land rights laws began and Eddie spoke at a 1981 land rights conference on land rights in the Torres Straits. On hearing his speech, Lawyer, H. C. ‘Nugget’ Coombs, encouraged Eddie and other Meriam people to establish ownership of their lands through the High Court of Australia, and on 20 May 1982, Koiki and four other Meriam Men began their fight for ownership of their lands on Murray and Dauar Islands through the Australian High Court. Koiki was named the first plaintiff, so the case became known as the Mabo Case. Research grants from AIATSIS helped out with the case, but the Queensland Government introduced a sneaky new law in 1985 to crush their chances for native title. Koiki and his colleagues challenged this new law and won, as the High Court found in 1988, this new Queensland law breached Australian racial discrimination laws—Mabo v. Queensland [No. 1].
this event has the support of the liberal and labour parties as well as the prime minister Whitlam who had helped approved the land rights act, this was also a step into having trust between both parties. After Prime Minister Whitlam was put into power, he promised to push for Aboriginal land rights, the Australian government bought privately owned land to give back to the Aboriginals since the act had been introduced, and almost 50% of the northern territory was returned to the ATSI people. The year 1975 marked a great historical year in Australia as it was the year the Prime minister poured soil into indigenous Australians' hands to symbolise their victory in claiming Australia as their
The Mabo Decision was a turning point for the recognition of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. From recognising ownership of traditional lands to raising awareness of racial discrimination, it affected the Indigenous Australian society in various ways. Firstly, the Mabo Decision was significant because it acknowledged the ownership of traditional lands by abolishing “terra nullius”, meaning that the land is empty and owned by no one. Previously, the British denied the Indigenous Australians' connection and ownership of the land by declaring that Australia was "terra nullius". However, on the 3rd of June, 1992, the High Court decided that the Merriam people were "entitled as against the whole word to possession, occupation
They were even threatened, that if they didn’t, their food supplies would be cut and they would be evicted from the camp. This kind of determination from the Gurindji people even got the support from white Australians, which consisted mainly of Students and Trade Unionists. This strike lasted nine years, before the government took
After the Holt government announced on February 23 1967, a referendum to amend sections 51 and 127 of the constitution, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders used pamphlets and posters to campaign for a Yes vote. The ‘Right Wrongs, Write Yes’ poster in particular was a key factor in its appeal to a sense of justice in white Australians to vote yes, specifically in its use of appealing indigenous children (NMA,
We are gathered here today, in loving memory of the greatest prime minister to ever grace Australian soil. Gough Whitlam broke a 23-year-old dry spell for the labour party and although his term in office was a mere three years, in that three years he did more than any other prime minister ever has and truly began to shape the Australia we live in today. From humble beginnings, to fighting for Australia, Whitlam was a man of great courage and will and for that his legacy will transpire long past his time. FIRST BODY PARA: ‘Terra Nullius’ the two words that initiated white superiority in Australia for over 100 years. Gough Whitlam was the first Australian prime minister to accept instead of oppress and put an end to a previously idealistic
The 1970s was a decade of change for Australia. Many issues were talked about including immigration, war, sexual morality, the role of women and the environment. Gough Whitlam had a huge role on shaping Australia and made some amazing changes. Whitlam was Australia’s prime minister from 1972 to 1975. During his time as prime minister he changed rights involving women’s equal pay and maternity leave as well as removing Australian troops from the Vietnam war, introducing free university education and lowered the voting age.
The Whitlam Government was made up of the members of the Australian Labor Party and ran in power from 1972 until its dismissal in 1975. The Whitlam Government was responsible for implementing Healthcare and Social Security and important changes to areas of Australia’s education, women, economy, defence, nationality, democracy and immigration. The Whitlam government only served for three years and was actually dismissed by Sir John Kerr; The Governor-General in 1974 appointed by Whitlam, this raises the questions what really where the successes and failures of the Whitlam Government?
Lingiari was part of the wave hill cattle station in 1965, working for Lord Vestey. The pay for the aboriginal people on the land was shocking, and their food rations were poor. Of course, the Gurindji people were not happy and went on strike. Jens Korff, who has studied aboriginal people since 1999, from the national library of Australia states that at first this strike was for the salary to be raised to $25 a week, but soon grew into a larger
Introduction Eddie Mabo was the man who initiated the land rights argument for indigenous people. He found out that where he was born and lived, at a place called Mer Island was not legally his or his peoples land. This news angered and upset Eddie Mabo and he began speaking out and telling people about his story. It was while Eddie Mabo was working as a gardener at James Cook University that he crossed paths with land rights advocates and some legal minds who would become influential in his later argument to have the indigenous right to land recognised by the courts. He received a great amount of support especially from fellow Indigenous people.
The novel ‘Jasper Jones’ by Craig Silvey is centred around a young man named Charlie Bucktin living in the little Australian town of Corrigan in the late 1960 's. Charlie is presented with the issues of racial prejudice, shamefulness, and moral dishonesty. He is tested to address the idealism of right from wrong and acknowledges that the law doesn 't generally maintain equity. The thoughts are depicted through Silvey 's utilization of story traditions which are to either challenge or reinforce our values, states of mind and convictions on the issues brought before us. The 1960 's was an extremely dull period for numerous individuals whose race was recognizably unique - different to that of the “white” population.