Vincent Lingiari Short Biography

The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,

Edward Ned Kelly was Australia’s most famous bushranger; regarded by many as a hero who fought “for the rights of the battler.” Whether Ned Kelly was a hero, however, has been debated throughout Australia’s history. Evidence shows that Ned was a murderous villain who terrorised towns and robbed wealthy pastoralists; a man who broke the law and committed an array of crimes that were both evil and immoral. Ned Kelly was a villain; an outlaw and thief who is wrongly immortalised as an Australian hero.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I am here to discuss the effects that Neville Bonner had on the land rights and freedoms of aboriginal Australians. Australia has a history of discrimination. This is proven by the amount of effort it took to change the rights of indigenous Australians. One of the most effective aboriginal Australian’s was Neville Bonner, who I will speak about today. Neville Bonner had a significant impact on the rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples due to his involvement in parliament and his determination to live freely as an aboriginal. We will discuss throughout the speech Neville’s background and childhood, the changes he made to the rights of aboriginal peoples and who they impacted, as well as why he decided to make a difference to the lives of aborigines.

Why did it take so long? The Gurindji people did not know to speak English this did not help them with getting their back or even getting equal pay. After walking off the job they camped at Wattie creek and sought to get their land back. In 1967 they petitioned to the governor- general to get their land back. (Indigenousrights.net.au,(2015)The leader of Gurindji nations toured Australia to tell people about their cause. In 1972 prime minster Whitlam heard about this cause and said the government will give funds to the Gurindji people so they can purchase properties that were not on reserves. Lord vestey offered to surrender 90 square kilometres to the people. It was not until 16 august 1975 at Daguragu, Prime Minister Whitlam transferred leasehold title to the Gurindji, symbolically handing soil to Vincent Lingiari. (Naa.gov.au,.

Whilst the treatment of Aboriginal workers at Vesteys Cattle Station was appalling, the sacrifices that the Aboriginal workers made was very significant to the Australian Civil Rights Movement. It led to Vincent Lingiari taking charge and proving to be a rewarding leader, making Indigenous rights one step one step closer to be an equal with all human rights. However, the Walk-Off was also the first claim for Aboriginal land in Australia and was a landmark in the land rights movement for Indigenous Australians. Finally, on the 16th of August 1975, Vesteys handed back a portion of their land to the Gurindji people.

30 years after the colonisation of the Wurundjeri peoples land, Simon Wonga, the Ngurungaeta or headman of the Wurundjeri people, was determined to attain land for his people and applied to the board for a piece of land on which they could farm and maintain. Wonga befriended a Scottish pastor named John Green and his wife Mary Green who shared a common interest in attaining land with him. With Wonga’s approval, they set to educate the Wurundjeri children so that they could adapt to this new colonial world, Mary educated her children along with the Wurundjeri children on the property that they were temporarily residing in, today known as Yering located 50km from Melbourne (Wurundjeri council?). After waiting tirelessly for the government to instruct them on which land they could settle on, Wonga led his people back to their country in 1863 located on the Yarra river in the area known today as Badger

On Australia day 1972 four Indigenous activists, Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bertie Williams and Tony Koorie erected a beach umbrella on the lawns of Parliament House. These four people set up a protest and placed signs which said ‘Embassy’, this was to represent a displaced nation. The protesters were against the McMahon Liberal Government’s statement in which land rights were rejected to Aboriginal communities. They issued a petition which had a detailed five point plan which addressed that Aboriginals had ownership of existing reserves and settlements. The Aboriginal protesters said that they would stay out on the lawns opposing until the Aboriginal Australians were granted their land rights. After a while the Government realized that they needed to get rid of the Aboriginals that were camped at Old Parliament House. They decided that they would be removed without any disturbance and with plenty of notice.

With the change from Keatings progressive labour government to John Howard's’ conservative Coalition government, came resounding regression to the Native Title act, with the 10 point plan, and the coinciding Wik decision nine months after. The Wik VS Queensland case (1996) established that in cases of conflict between pastoral leases and native title, pastoral leases override and can successfully extinguish native title , which was adopted with the change of legislation and introduction of the Native Title amendment Act (1998). If there is no conflict, they can coexist. Many cases of Native Title extinguishment has occurred, and only approximately 600 areas hold Native Title in all of Australia, with less than 1% in NSW. As a procession from the Native Title declaration, this legislature has digressed justice to the ATSI community , and as further iterated by Sydney Morning Herald has “undone the good of the Mabo decision”. ATSI discrimination following the legislation of the Native title Act (1996) significantly rose in the public discourse with renowneded personalities claiming they could “take their backyards”, and an unspoken deeply-rooted fear for many, dating back to Australia’s colonization; that Australia could be declared completely under Native Title, and the sovereignty of the Crown could be questioned . For ATSI peoples’, the introduction of the 10 point plan, and the Native Title Ammendment Act (1998) marks a significant national regression upon achieving justice for their community as they sought to pour “"bucket-loads of extinguishment" on the native title rights of Indigenous Australians. Law reform, in this case has been dominantly ineffective in achieving justice for the ATSI peoples, and rather revoking

Vernon Ah Kee was born in Innisfail, Queensland in 1967. The year when he was born, Australians voted to change the Constitution (laws of the country), amending two sections that discriminated against Indigenous people.He felt that he was being discriminated against as he is a native australian. So when he grew up, he creates work dealing with issues facing Australian Indigenous (native) culture in a post-colonial society. Vernon Ah Kee is best known for his monumentally scaled pencil portraits of Aboriginal family members, who gaze defiantly at the viewer. Currently he lives and works in Brisbane,

The Pilbara strike was a strike with hundreds of Aboriginal pastoral workers leaving their work due to the low pay, or in some instances rations instead of pay. This strike took place on May the 1st 1946 being mainly led by 2 people by the names of Ernie Mitchell and Peter Coppin. This strike paralysed sheep stations and was organised with no technology and is Australia’s longest strike in history, lasting until August 1949. This was the first industrial action by Aboriginal people since colonisation in 1788. The goals that the strikers sent to the Department of Native Affairs were clear:

This group of people over many years had been trying to get their land back, by their Aboriginal Rights, the land had once been “154 square miles” (Pertusati, 1997) but it:

1966, led employees of the Wave Hill station on a walkout after working in sweatshop.

In the 1980s, the struggle for indigenous people land rights began. In 1981, Indigenous people of South Australia were handed back 10% of the State’s land. They were given full rights to claim royalties from mining companies operating on their land. Soon after this had happened, other States such as Queensland and NSW quickly followed. This sparked front- man of the band Goanna, Shane Howard, to write the iconic song about c. On October 26th 1985, the Commonwealth Government Granted land rights over Uluru and Ayers Rock, back to the Aboriginal owners.

This website takes a stand and informs regarding the forced closure of Aboriginal communities. This is especially troubling as Kliger and Cosgrove (1999 p. 66) state “Aboriginal culture is inseparable from the land”. Throughout the website the reader is reminded of the action the Western Australian Government took in the 1950s when Aborigines were forcefully relocated. Many of which relocated to Broome and were kept from the population in reserves (Kliger and Cosgrove1999 p. 58). Kliger and Cosgrove (1999 p. 54) state that the Native Title Act allowed Aborigines to live on their land but no it seems that has been revoked. Today there exists Aboriginal land that is being used for mining in Western Australia, however, the Western Australian

However, influenced by the cases that came before the Chief’s court, he determined to become a lawyer. Hearing the elder’s stories of his ancestors’ valor during the wars of the resistance in defense of their fatherland, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people. (ANC, par 8) According to ANC.org, later on, during his early years at the University College of Fort hare where he was studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree, he was suspended for knowingly joining in on a protest boycott (par 9). He never did return to that university.