Vincent Lingiari

Wave Hill Cattle Station is located approximately 600 km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. From the late 19th century it was run by the British pastoral company Vesteys. Vesteys employed the local Indigenous people, the Gurindji, to work on Wave Hill. But working conditions were extremely poor and wages were very low when compared to those of non-Indigenous employees.[5]

"Vincent, May 1968" (Vincent Lingiari); charcoal on paper, by Frank Hardy, drawn while researching his book, The Unlucky Australians.

In 1966, Lingiari, a member of the Gurindji, worked at Wave Hill and had recently returned from a period of hospitalisation in Darwin and led a walk-off of indigenous employees of Wave Hill as a protest against the work and conditions.[6] While there had been complaints from Indigenous employees about conditions on Wave Hill over many years, including an inquiry during the 1930s that was critical of Vestey's employment practices, the walk-off had a focus that was aimed at a wider target than Vestey's. Before 1968 it was illegal to pay an indigenous worker more than a specified amount in goods and money. In many cases, the government benefits for which Indigenous employees were eligible were paid into pastoral companies’ accounts, rather than to the individuals.[7]

The protesters established the Wattie Creek Camp and demanded the return of some of their traditional lands. Speaking on this Lingiari said, "We want to live on our land, our way."[8] So began the eight-year fight by the Gurindji people to obtain title to their land.

Vincent Lingiari and Gough Whitlam in 1975

The Wave Hill strike would eventually reshape the agenda of relationships between Indigenous Australians and the wider community. Although initially an employee-rights action, it soon became a major federal issue when the Gurindji people demanded the return of their traditional lands.[7]

The strike lasted eight years. Over that time, support for Aboriginal rights grew as the struggle intensified.[7] The protest eventually led to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. This act gave indigenous Australians freehold title to traditional lands in the Northern Territory and, significantly, the power to negotiate over mining and development on those lands, including what type of compensation they would like.[9]

An important and symbolic event in Australian history occurred when, during an emotional ceremony in 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam poured the local sand into Lingiari's hands, symbolically handing the Wave Hill station back to the Gurindji people.[10] A photograph of the moment captured by Mervyn Bishop was purchased by the National Portrait Gallery and is displayed in Old Parliament House.[11]

On 7 June 1976, Lingiari was named a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the Aboriginal people.[3]

Lingiari died on 21 January 1988.[3] Every year until then he attended the Gurindji’s annual re-enactment of the walk-off.

Lingiari was a leader and holder of the cultural authority of the Gurindji people. His fight for his people's rights – to the custodianship and ownership of their land and the capacity to practise their law, culture and language – made him a national figure.[12] He confronted the vast economic and political forces that were arrayed against him and his people. In doing so, he won a victory that is one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of the struggle for the recognition of Indigenous people, their rights and responsibilities in the land, and their ability to practice their law, language and culture.[12] One of Australia's largest electorates is named after Lingiari. The Division of Lingiari encompasses nearly all of the Northern Territory as well as Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands. It includes Daguragu and traditional Gurindji lands.[13]

The story of Lingiari was celebrated in the song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" written by Paul Kelly and Indigenous musician Kev Carmody and recorded by Kelly in 1991.[4]

• Native title

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"National Archives of Australia".