Tent Embassy
In the 1970s, inspired by the Black Power movement in the U.S the Aboriginals people were very politically active. Aboriginal people demanded land rights for the areas that they had lived on since millennia. Land rights were considered the key to economic independence, and land the base to generate resource and employment. The Aborigines were big on stating they wanted land not handouts which most Australian’s assumed they wanted.
Australia Day 1972, four young Aboriginal men erected a beach umbrella on the lawns outside Parliament House in Canberra and put up a sign which read 'Aboriginal Embassy'. Over the following months, supporters of the embassy swelled to 2000. When the police violently dismantled the tents and television
In the 1980’s the state and government drew back from pursuing more legislations or granting land rights from the indigenous land rights because of the shortage of popular support in different places of the country. The indigenous fear of losing from votes and it began to take over from the state and progress of the indigenous rights, but all of this changed in 1992 from a case called the Mabo case that took place with a High Court. This case was named after Eddie Mabo, who was an indigenous from the Murray Island in the Torres Strait. He was the head of a group of his fellow indigenous Torres Strait people called the Meriam people and lead them into the Supreme Court to challenge the Queensland government for their land rights and ownership,
The Referendum has lastingly affected Indigenous strategies. It empowered the government to pass the (Northern Territory) Land Rights Act, which has profited numerous Indigenous Australians. In any case, regardless of the supposition that the power given to the national government by 1967 Referendum would be utilized just to profit Indigenous individuals, in a few cases, the progressions have been utilized institute laws that have disintegrated Indigenous rights.
This was the beginning of aboriginals gaining a symbol of recognition. One of the many impacts during the 1967 referendum were the aboriginals beginning to gain a voice, due to them being counted in the census and therefore their social status was improved. Due to the vast amount of
In 1976 the Fraser government passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Several state governments passed their own Land Rights Acts, which recognised aboriginal and Torres Strait islander claims to land and guaranteed them royalty payments from mining companies working there. Some laws enforced by the government became challenging for most indigenous people to abide by. Through the analysis of this information we understand the impacts the government and its laws had towards the indigenous society of
and it was. On Australia Day Roberta (Bobbie) Sykes, Gary Foley and Michael Anderson where sent from Sydney as messengers. They had set up a beach umbrella on the lawns outside of the Parliament House located in Canberra. They also set up a sign which had the writing 'Aboriginal Embassy'.
Besides, as we have said above, it is a political protest in support of the rights of Australians natives, who have been suffering abuses and injustices since the XVIII century.
Indigenous Australians had been fighting for rights to their traditional lands since European settlement. The 60s and the 70s were a stage of greater national understanding of Indigenous Activism and saw noteworthy actions taken by groups in the land right struggles. Support was shown by official representatives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and even countries such as Russia and Canada. This helped to boost the profile of the embassy. The embassy became a centre for protest after achieving media attention nationally and internationally. Groups from the embassy went on protest marches and talked at community forums to go on and
In 1965 a group of students from Sydney University formed a group, called Student Action for Aborigines, that’s purpose was to draw attention to the inequality between white and indigenous Australia based in New South Wales. It also hoped to decrease the social discrimination between white Australia and indigenous Australia as well as give support to aboriginals to withstand the discrimination they face daily.
For many January 26th is a day to celebrate Australia and the country it is today but the date is not marked for celebrations for all Australians. For many Aboriginal Australians January the 26th is referred to as ‘survival day’, ‘invasion day’ or the ‘day of mourning ‘it marks the day when the white settlers landed on Australian shores and devastated the lives of the indigenous people who had lived there for thousands of years. The aborigines say “for us it is a day of mourning. This day we lost our land, we lost our spirit culture and we lost our language.”
The attitudes of the white Australians also had a huge impact on change of rights and freedoms as it pressured the government into giving Aboriginals rights and freedoms. The 1967 was testament to this when a huge 90.77% of Australians agreed that Aboriginals had the right to be counted in the census. There has never been any real public objections to giving aboriginals rights, merely quiet harbored prejudices in the persons’ mind. On the other side of the case the Aboriginal rights in general have not improved with many Aboriginals being
Political activism in Australia was a major factor achieving changing rights and freedoms for Aboriginals people because of this indigenous people were able to take action to rise up for their opinions.
Their native land was taken from them, and this led to an increase in Aboriginal activism. Protest groups like the Aborigines' Progressive Association and the Freedom Rides were formed. It wasn’t until 1962 that the commonwealth electoral act that began in 1918 was amended so that all Indigenous Australian could vote, and only in 1965 were Aboriginals finally granted the entitlement to full wages. (Skwirk, 2007). This impacted them in many ways us they were denied equal right for so long. ‘I want a Little Fair Play if you will be so kind enough to see on my Behalf’ (http://www.abc.net.au/civics/democracy/struggle.htm, 2001). This was from one of the many letters by John Kickett to parliament in his fight for aboriginal rights.
In 1967, a landmark event occurred for the Indigenous Community of Australia. They were no longer declared Flora and Fauna This means that Aboriginal people would be considered a part of the landscape and not humans in their own right.. In 1967, a Referendum was held by all members of Australian society voting on the issue of allowing Indigenous Australian to be a part of the census and thereby able to vote and be counted as part of Australia’s population. This achieved not only citizenship for Aboriginal people, but put the issue of Indigenous Rights on both the political and social platforms. This essay will look at the lead up to the Referendum, how Aborigines and their supporters communicated their belief in their rights to the
This report will cover the history of the Aboriginal Voting rights in Australia. The Aboriginals did not gain the right to federal voting at least 150 years after the British colonized in Australia. All citizens of a nation deserve equal rights.
Over the past 230 years, Aboriginals have protested in many different ways to gain rights, which they believe they are deserving of. Through aims of what they wanted to achieve, the processes they went through brought them disappointment over the poor results of some actions and pleasure over the success of others. Over those years, very few periods of protest have been as revelational or effective as the protests occurring between 1938 and 1972. During this period many different groups of Aboriginals have fought for the common cause of being recognised as people rather than interferences caught in the midst of Australians expansion as a nation.