 Prime Minister Gough Whitlam pours the sand into Vincent Lingiari's hand. Photo: Mervyn Bishop Vincent Lingiari (1908–1988), was an Aboriginal rights activist who was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to the Aboriginal people. Lingiari was a member of the Gurindji people from the Northern Territory's Victoria River District. Lingiari lead the Wave Hill Walk-Off, which eventually resulted in the return of the land to the Gurindji by the Commonwealth of Australia. ImageMetadata File history File links Vincent_Lingniari. ...
Mervyn Bishop (b. ...
1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, wearing on her left shoulder the Order of Australias Sovereign Badge. ...
Location of Gurindji country (topmost blue shading) Gurindji are a group of Indigenous Australians living in northern Australia, 460 km southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory. ...
Emblems: Sturts Desert Rose (floral) Motto: None Slogan or Nickname: The Territory, The NT, The Top End Other Australian states and territories Capital Darwin Government Const. ...
Location of Victoria River in the Northern Territory (red) Victoria River is a location in the Northern Territory. ...
Shows location of Gurindji (blue, near top left) in the Northern Territory The Gurindji (or Wave Hill) Strike refers to the walk-off by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families in August 1966 at Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. ...
Wave Hill Walk-Off
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Wave Hill Station is located approximately 600 km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. From the late nineteenth century it was run by the British pastoral company, Vesteys. Vesteys employed the local Indigenous people, the Gurindji, to work on Wave Hill. But working conditions were extremely poor and wages were very low when compared to those of non-Indigenous employees. Shows location of Gurindji (blue, near top left) in the Northern Territory The Gurindji Strike lasted from 1966 to 1975 at Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. ...
Wave Hill (28 acres) is a botanical garden in the Riverdale, The Bronx, New York City, New York. ...
The Vestey Group (Vestey Group Ltd) (formerly Vestey Brothers) is a privately owned UK group of companies, comprised of an international food product business (that includes meats, dairy products, frozen vegetables,bakery products, food services and trading) and significant cattle ranching and sugar cane farming interests in Brazil and Venezuela. ...
In 1966, Lingiari, a member of the Gurindji who had worked at Wave Hill, and recently returned from a period of hospitalisation in Darwin, led a walk-off of Indigenous employees of Wave Hill as a protest against the work and pay conditions. Darwin is the territorial capital and most populous city of Australias Northern Territory. ...
While there had been complaints from Indigenous employees about conditions on Wave Hill over many years, including an inquiry during the 1930s that was critical of Vesteys employment practices, the walk-off had a focus that was aimed at a wider target than Vesteys. Before 1968 it was illegal to pay an Indigenous worker more than a specified amount in goods and money. In many cases, the government benefits for which Indigenous employees were eligible were paid into pastoral companies’ accounts, rather than to the individuals.
The protesters established the Wattie Creek Camp and demanded the return of some of their traditional lands. So began the seven-year fight by the Gurindji people to obtain title to their land.
Land Rights Act -
The Wave Hill strike would eventually reshape the agenda of relationships between indigenous Australians and the wider community. Although initially an employee-rights action, it soon became a major federal issue when the Gurindji people demanded the return of their traditional lands. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act was signed by the Govenor-General of Australia 16 December, 1976. ...
The strike lasted seven years. Over that time, support for Aboriginal rights grew as the struggle intensified. The protest eventually led to the Commonwealth Land Rights Act (Northern Territory), 1976. This Act gave Indigenous Australians freehold title to traditional lands in the Northern Territory and, significantly, the power of veto over mining and development on those lands. An important and symbolic event in Australian history occurred when, during an emotional ceremony in 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam poured the local sand into Vincent Lingiari's hands and handed the Wave Hill station back to the Gurindji people. Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC (born 11 July 1916), known as Gough Whitlam (pronounced Goff), Australian politician and 26th Prime Minister of Australia, was the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed by the Governor-General. ...
One of Australia's largest electorates is named after Vincent. The Division of Lingiari encompasses nearly all of the Northern Territory as well as Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands. The Division of Lingiari is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. ...
The story of Vincent Lingiari was celebrated in the song From Little Things Big Things Grow written by Paul Kelly and Indigenous musician Kev Carmody and recorded by Kelly. From Little Things Grow is a song released by Paul Kelly & The Messengers on the album Comedy (1991). ...
Paul Kelly (born 1955, South Australia) is an Australian singer-songwriter, based in Melbourne, and widely considered as an icon of Australian music. ...
Kev Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter born in 1946 on the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. ...
See also: Shows location of Gurindji (blue, near top left) in the Northern Territory The Gurindji Strike lasted from 1966 to 1975 at Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. ...
Native title is a concept in the law of Australia that recognises the continued ownership of land by local Indigenous Australians. ...
Location of Gurindji country (topmost blue shading) Gurindji are a group of Indigenous Australians living in northern Australia, 460 km southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory. ...
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