Methods of protest used by Indigenous Australians since 1945 BUILD

1. 1967 Referendum

1.1. The campaign involved a large number of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals and organisations who used the power of political slogans.

1.2. They used this to convince the government for the indigenous to all have equal rights in Australia.

1.3. The overwhelming support of the campaign demonstrated to the Federal Government that issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

1.4. These people could not be ignored due the amount of support.

2. Warburton Ranges controversy, 1957

2.1. Concern emerged that little was being done to ensure the safety of the Indigenous people living in the Warburton Ranges.

2.2. This was near a nuclear testing site, set up by the Australian and British Goverment.

2.3. This impacted the indigenous since they were living close to the site.

2.4. Thiisled to an outburst of sympathy and anger in 1957, with headlines like ‘We Can’t Let them Die’ and ‘Aboriginals Starve and Nothing’s Being Done’ splashed across the nation’s newspapers.

3. Wave Hill Walk-off, 1966–75

3.1. constituted a series of protests that began with dissatisfaction at wages and living conditions for Aboriginal stockmen, servants and their families on the Wave Hill cattle station, NT. Owned by Lord Vestey,

3.2. Their protest was successful after many runs

3.3. The indigenous got more land rights, as a Whitlam Government inquiry in 1973 led to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) 1976.

3.4. They used many protest methods like, music, newspapers and dance.

4. NSW Freedom Ride, 1965

4.1. This protest was to make people aware of how much racism is in the local community and the disadvantages that the indigenous had in rural NSW.

4.2. This story gained national news, prompting people from around Australia to become aware of the prejudice Aboriginal people faced in towns such as Walgett, Moree and Kempsey.

4.3. The media started to cover of the Freedom Ride arguably Making people vote 2 years later.

4.4. The Referendum in favour of federal powers to legislate on behalf of Indigenous people living in state/territory jurisdictions.

5. Pilbara Strike, 1946–49

5.1. The strike of Aboriginal workers in the Pilbara area of Western Australia was one of the longest in Australian history

5.2. It was a protest over the working conditions and fair payment, with at least 800 pastoral workers taking part. On International Workers’ Day,

5.3. They did not want to work in the mines anoymore without getting payed.

5.4. they preferred to survive through mining and live off bush tucker rather than to work for their former bosses.

6. Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk, 2000

6.1. An estimated 300 000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of the Stolen Generations and the rights of Indigenous people.

6.2. They did this to show how much of an impact it was to lose so many of their reletives.

6.3. They walked across the bridge to get the message out to everyone because it is a popular location.

6.4. The Walk followed a forum on reconciliation – Corroboree 2000 – that was held at the Sydney Opera House.

7. Tent embassy 1972

7.1. The Aboriginal tent embassy was set up on the lawns of Parliament House

7.2. Indigenous were angered at the McMahon Government’s Australia Day statement rejecting Aboriginal land rights, and drove from Sydney to Canberra to set up an ‘embassy’ under a beach umbrella.

7.3. They demanded for some land rights becuase it was their land.

7.4. It remains today as a continuing symbol of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander struggle for self-determination.

8. Yirrkala bark petitions, 1963

8.1. the Yolngu people sent a series of bark petitions to the Federal Government in protest at bauxite mining exploration in the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land.

8.2. The first 2 petitions were requesting that they should have permission to mine by Member for the Northern Territory Jock Nelson

8.3. Arthur Calwell. A parliamentary committee of inquiry listened to evidence presented at Yirrkala and in Darwin; the resulting report acknowledged the rights the Yolngu.

8.4. The news spread rapidly. Causing parliament to get multiple petitions, this then lead to the first land rights case.

9. Why did these protests happen?

9.1. They only wanted to show that this country was originally their land and they were protesting for their ancestors to tell us that they were the first ones here and they shouldn't be taken over.