Post on 03-Sep-2021
32 © Knowledge Books & Software, 2016
Vincent Lingiari – Land Rights Activist
At the time of European colonisation, Australia was not empty of
people! There were Aboriginal people watching as the First Fleet sailed
into Sydney Harbour. The whole of Australia was covered by many
nations (tribes) of people. There were hundreds of different languages
spoken. Aboriginal ownership of land was not a formal process like it
was in Europe. The lands were still occupied and owned though! The
British understood this, but they ignored it. This was so they could say
that they owned the land.
The land of the
tribe or nation was
protected. Land was
fought over by
warring tribes. Land
was owned by the
whole tribe, and
had been this way
for tens of
thousands of years.
This meant the land
was held in trust for
all members of the
tribe.
Today, the closest
example of tribal
ownership of land is
in Papua New
Guinea (PNG). It is
called ‘customary
land ownership’.
This means land belongs to all the tribe and cannot be sold.
Vincent Lingiari – Land Rights Activist
36 © Knowledge Books & Software, 2016
In 1975, the
Federal
Government
negotiated with
Vestey’s to return
some of the
Gurindji lands.
The official
handback took
place on the 16th
of August, 1975.
At the ceremony,
Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam poured sand from the ground into Vincent Lingiari’s
hands. To Lingiari, and the other Gurindji people there, Whitlam said:
On this great day, I, Prime Minister of Australia, speak to you on
behalf of all Australian people – all those who honour and love
this land we live in. For them I want to say to you: I want this to
acknowledge that we Australians have still much to do to redress
the injustice and oppression that has for so long been the lot of
Black Australians.
On the 7th of June, 1976, Lingiari was named a Member of the Order
of Australia. This was for efforts to represent the land rights of his
people.
Vincent’s legacy
Vincent Lingiari’s efforts set off a series of land rights claims. The
Aboriginal people now knew how they could try to claim back the
lands they had lived on for tens of thousands of years!
© Knowledge Books & Software, 2016 39
Charles ‘Chika’ Dixon – Leader and Social Activist
Charles Dixon was born
in 1928. He died on the
20th of March, 2010. In
1970, he helped start
the Aboriginal Legal
Service in Redfern. This
was to help Aboriginal
people get fair treatment
in the legal system.
Dixon had worked on
the wharves in Sydney
as a teenager. He was
involved with a union
called the Waterside
Workers’ Federation.
The unions have a long
history of protest. They
were also one of the few
groups in Australia who
supported Indigenous
rights. Some of the
unions were aligned to Communist groups. These groups believed the
rights of Indigenous people were important. When asked by his
mother if he was becoming a ‘red’ (a Communist), Dixon said,
jokingly, “may as well be a red as they are doing better than the
blacks.”
Dixon was involved with organising campaigns for the 1967
Referendum. In the referendum, Australians voted to amend the
constitution. This would mean Indigenous people were included in the
census. It also meant the Commonwealth could make laws for them.
58 © Knowledge Books & Software, 2016
Eddie Mabo – Terra Nullius and Land Rights
Eddie Mabo was
born in June
1936. He died in
January, 1992.
Mabo was from
the Torres Strait
Islands off Cape
York. His home
island was the
Murray Islands
(Mer). From there,
the coast of
Papua is closer
than the
Australian
mainland.
Mabo married
Bonita Neehow in
1959. She might
have been from
the islands of
Vanuatu. Many people from these islands were taken as slaves and
called ‘south Sea Islanders’. They were brought to Australia to work in
the sugar cane fields.
Mabo had a family of 10 children and lived most of the time in
Townsville. Mabo worked on pearling boats, as a cane cutter, and a
railway fettler. Later he became a gardener at James Cook University
in Townsville. This was the start of an incredible series of events!