Good News In History, August 16
Good News In History, August 16 50 years ago today, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically handed over land to the Gurindji people after the eight-year Wave Hill walk-off, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia. Though initially interpreted merely as a strike against working and living conditions, the primary demands of the 200 or so Gurindji stockmen and house servants who had downed tools in the summer of 1975 were for the return of some of the traditional lands of the Gurindji people, which had covered approximately 3,250 square kilometers (1,250 sq miles) of the Northern Territory before European settlement. READ more about this historic day… (1975) A sketch of Vincent Lingiari; charcoal on paper, by Frank Hardy – CC 4.0. Peter Ellis. Though highly symbolic, the handing over of land was one of the main events leading to the passing of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. This legislation allowed Indigenous Australians…
