The Wave Hill Walk-Off

23rd August 1966

On this day, 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, led by Vincent Lingiari, walked off a cattle station at Wave Hill in Australia’s Northern Territory and remained on strike for seven years. Though initially interpreted merely as a strike against working and living conditions, the primary demand was for return of some of the traditional lands of the Gurindji people, which had covered approximately 3,250 square kilometres of the Northern Territory before European settlement. On 16 August 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was finally able to give the rights to a piece of land back to the Gurindji people in a highly symbolic handover ceremony. It was a key moment in the movement for Aboriginal land rights in Australia, which was one of the main events leading to the passing of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976.

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Author: Tony

Born and raised in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Educated at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, England. Living in the foothills of Mount Etna since 1982 and teaching English at Catania University since 1987.

4 thoughts on “The Wave Hill Walk-Off”

      1. Richard III was defeated by Henry who was to become King as Henry VII Tudor..at Bosworth field on August 22 1485..The infamous King, according to Shakespeare, uttered the famous words…” a horse. A horse my kingdom for a horse..”

        1. I thought you were drawing some kind of parallel with the Wave Hill story and I couldn’t see it. So how does Bosworth come into the picture? I am a little confused.

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