About this record
These two pages are the front and back of a 1968 pamphlet titled Land Rights for Aborigines – Answering Your Questions which urged readers to sign a land rights petition. The pamphlet outlines the position of Aboriginal peoples in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It explains what land Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples want and what they hope to do with it.
The pamphlet particularly focuses on the Gurindji people and the Wave Hill a pastoral lease held by the Vestey Group, a British pastoral conglomerate owned by Lord Vestey. A photograph of Vincent Lingiari, the Gurindji leader, features on the front cover. The pamphlet was authorised by Kath Walker, later known as Oodgeroo Noonuccal.
Educational value
- In 1968 the wave of Aboriginal action to achieve land rights was building. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander activists in organisations such as the Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines, who published this pamphlet, were keen to gain support from all Australians for their cause. The council hoped to allay anxieties and build on the support for Aboriginal peoples expressed in the huge 'yes' vote in the 1967 referendum.
- The Gurindji people of the Northern Territory were in the third year of a walk-off from Wave Hill Station. It had begun as a strike for the same pay as other stockmen – irrespective of whether they were Aboriginal or not – but soon evolved into a land rights demand for country at Daguragu (Wattie Creek). In 1967 the Gurindji’s petition to the Governor-General for 1295 square kilometres of their land had been rejected, and in 1968 federal Cabinet also rejected the request on the grounds that it would set a precedent.
- The 1968 walk-off was organised by Vincent Lingiari, a traditional owner of the land and a senior law man, who had been working as a stockman on the Wave Hill Station. Lingiari visited Melbourne, Sydney and Darwin to tell Australians about the struggle of his people. This resulted in greater public support, which transformed the strike into a national and international issue.
- The pamphlet makes its appeal for support by contrasting the aspirations and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with the poor use made of the land held by the British pastoral company Vestey's, the biggest landholder in Australia at the time. It also highlighted the discriminatory wages First Australians received in the Northern Territory and Queensland. By 1968 the campaign against Vestey's – highlighting the exploitation of its Aboriginal workforce – was starting to generate some negative publicity in the media.
- The petition referred to in the pamphlet contained three requests to the Australian Government: that the Aboriginal residents of reserves obtain ownership of the reserve land; that Aboriginal ownership of traditional land leased by the Commonwealth be recognised; and that the development of mining, pastoral and other enterprises on all Aboriginal land be subject to the consent of the Aboriginal owners.
- This and other petitions of the time were unsuccessful.
Acknowledgments
Learning resource text © Education Services Australia Limited and the National Archives of Australia 2010.
