What is the significance of the gurindji strike?
The Gurindji strike was instrumental in heightening the understanding of First Nations land ownership in Australia and was a catalyst for the passing of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, the first legislation allowing for a claim of title if the First Nations claimants could provide evidence for …
Why did the Gurindji people walk-off?
In August 1966, Vincent Lingiari, a Gurindji spokesman, led a walk-off of 200 Aboriginal stockmen, house servants, and their families from Wave Hill as a protest against the work and pay conditions.
What did the Gurindji people want?
The Gurindji people, like other Mobs across ‘Australia’, did not want to leave their Country and pastoralists wanted cheap labour in the cattle and sheep stations. As a result, Aboriginal people became an important but heavily exploited part of the cattle and sheep industry across the Northern Territory.
What did the Gurindji people do?
Native title. The Gurindji people of the Northern Territory are best known for The Gurindji Strike, or Wave Hill walk-off, led by Vincent Lingiari in 1966, protesting against mistreatment by the station managers. The strike would become the first major victory of the Indigenous land rights movement.
Who gave the Gurindji people their land back?
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
On 15 August 1975, at Wattie Creek in the Northern Territory, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam gave the Gurindji people of the Northern Territory legal title to their traditional lands. The scene, captured in a now iconic photograph, was the culmination of a long struggle by the Gurindji and their supporters.
How long did the Wave Hill walk-off last?
seven years
The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years.
Was the gurindji strike successful?
Land rights had been part of Indigenous political actions before, for example in the 1946 Pilbara walk-off and the Yirrkala bark petition of 1963, but the protracted, high-profile and ultimately successful Gurindji strike is a foundational moment in the Aboriginal land rights movement in Australia.
What did the Gurindji people get paid?
The Waterside Workers’ Federation levied its members $1 per head and, in early 1972 after a request by Gurindji leaders Vincent Lingiari and Donald Nungiari, sent $10,000 (the equivalent of $100,000 in 2015) to help the Gurindji fence off their land.
What did they do at the Wave Hill walk-off?
On 23 August 1966, the Gurindji people of the Northern Territory made history with the Wave Hill Walk-Off. The landmark event made their names widely known across Australia and inspired national change. 200 Gurindji stockmen, domestic workers and their families at Wave Hill cattle station went on strike.