We use cookies to operate Change.org and give you relevant content. We are made up of 11 Board Members selected to represent the 5 language groups of the Gascoyne, together with other Indigenous community people. In July 1963 two Labor members of parliament travelled to Arnhem Land — Kim Beazley and Gordon Bryant, who was also senior vice-president of the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement. Four copies of the petition were made. The petitions stated that "the land in question has been hunting and food gathering land for the Yirrkala tribes from time immemorial" and "that places sacred to the Yirrkala people, as well as vital to their livelihood are in the excised land". The painted designs proclaim Yolngu law, depicting the traditional relations to land and the typed text is in English and Gumatj languages.

The Aboriginal weekly wage of three pounds three shillings and three pence a week — about one fifth of the wage paid to other workers. This is another potential Indigenous death in custody that can so easily be avoided.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to ensure that religious organisations preaching that a supreme being created the Earth about 6000 years ago not receive any State government assistance, exemptions, subsidies or funding. After the petitions were presented to parliament on 14 August 1963, the federal government established the Select Committee on Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve. The National Archives holds the original petition together with a 3.3-metre copy. Kim Beazley, Member for Fremantle, Opposition spokesman on Aboriginal Affairs, 2009: Indigenous Australians have been living in Arnhem Land for thousands of years. Geologists also discovered deposits of bauxite in the Gove Peninsula, just north of Yirrkala.

They were the first formal assertion of Indigenous native title. While the location of the original signed petition is not known, transcripts of the text at the head of the petition are on a number of files held by the National Archives together with references to the petition: Yolngu people from Yirrkala in eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory sent a series of petitions on bark to the federal government in 1963. The petitions called on the House of Representatives to "appoint a Committee, accompanied by competent interpreters, to hear the views of the people of Yirrkala before permitting the excision" of the land for the mine and to ensure "that no arrangements be entered into with any company which will destroy the livelihood and independence of the Yirrkala people". Australia. With those in detention currently at high risk of contracting Covid-19 due to the sharing of dormitories, cafeterias and bathrooms, John faces not only an extreme risk due to his compromised immune system, but is also unable to receive the level of palliative care he could expect if he was in the community. However, the recommendations of the House of Representatives Select Committee regarding compensation payments were ignored in the Mining (Gove Peninsula Nabalco Agreement) Ordinance 1968 (NT)[6], which unilaterally revoked part of the Yirrkala Aboriginal reserve in order to enable Nabalco to develop the mine. Download Petition for a referendum, Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement, 1958 295.5 kb pdf [ PDF | 295.5 kb ] This was the first of many petitions which the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement ran to press for a referendum to get the federal government to accept responsibility in Aboriginal affairs. The Yirrkala bark petitions were the first example of a native title litigation in Australia. The Arnhem Land Reserve was established in 1931. Section 109 of the Constitution was also relevant to the issue. Three of the main petitions for which information is held are: In the mid-1930s William Cooper, the Secretary of the Australian Aborigines' League, gathered 1814 signatures for a petition to King George V seeking representation in parliament, citizenship and land rights for Aboriginal people. [2] They are on permanent display at Parliament House, Canberra.[3].

35–36, Source: Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, MS 9377, State Library of Victoria. The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to country, community and culture. Records held by the National Archives of Australia help to tell the story of Aboriginal activism from as early as the 1930s. Petitions are an important part of this story. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Attorney-General George Brandis and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion all rejected the statement. As Australians, we are proud of our Aboriginal heritage and we want to recognise and celebrate this heritage every day. In 1952 large deposits of bauxite were found by the Australian Aluminium Production Commission in Melville Bay, north of Yirrkala.

Join Human Rights for All and 90,558 supporters today. Commonwealth of Australia Constitution, Parliament of Australia: Senate.

This website contains names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Two years later a French mining company, Pechiney, began work on developing the prospected area into a mining town. The Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship ran a petition campaign in 1957 which was launched at a huge meeting in … Petitions were an effective way of mobilising support for Indigenous civil rights, and were used throughout the period leading up to the 1967 Referendum. Human Rights for All needs your help with “PREVENT ANOTHER ABORIGINAL DEATH IN CUSTODY”. In 1992 the concept of terra nullius, which had been used in the Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd judgement, was challenged by the High Court of Australia. In the mid-1930s William Cooper, the Secretary of the Australian Aborigines' League, gathered 1814 signatures for a petition to King George V seeking … ... Sign this petition. Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd was the first native title litigation in Australian history. Headed Gwalwa Daraniki, which means ‘our land’ in the language of the Larrakia people (the traditional owners of the Darwin area), the petition was signed by more than 1000 Aboriginal people from all states of mainland Australia – some with their names, others with thumb prints. Source: Parliament House, Canberra. Source: Barry Christophers Papers, MS 7992, box 16, National Library of Australia, Canberra.

In February 1963 Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced that the federal government had approved plans for a mine to be built in north-east Arnhem Land, next to Yirrkala. Nabalco’s bauxite treatment plant, Gove, Northern Territory, 1970s. The petition, signed by nine men and three women, stated that 500 people were residents of the land that was being removed, and that the whole deal had been kept secret from them. The creationist religions effectively deny Aboriginal history and culture thereby breaching our racist vilification laws. The next year a petition by the newly formed Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement was framed in similar language, although it was more carefully worded. Source: Barry Christophers Papers, MS992/6, National Library of Australia. Thus, the petitions are the first formal assertion of native title. See Plan your visit for important visitor and safety information including a request to provide your first name and a contact number.

In 1964 Swiss Aluminium and CSR Limited formed a mining company called Nabalco. Transcripts of the Petition by the Aboriginal Advancement League, Representation of Aborigines in Commonwealth Parliament, Australian Aborigines' League, Petition to His Majesty the King – Representation in Commonwealth Parliament, Citizenship Rights for Aborigines – Northern Territory, Records relating to the Yirrkala bark petitions, [House of Representatives] Inquiry into Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, 1963 – Terms of reference, correspondence, [House of Representatives] Inquiry into Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, 1963 – Unnumbered submissions and exhibits, [House of Representatives] Inquiry into Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, 1963 – Background papers, [House of Representatives] Inquiry into Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, 1963 – Proof transcripts – Darwin, Yirrkala x2, [House of Representatives] Inquiry into Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, 1963 – Proof transcript – Yirrkala, [House of Representatives] Inquiry into Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, 1963 – Minutes of proceedings, Demonstration in support of the Yirrkala petition on land rights to Prime Minister Gough Whitlam – Canberra [Tent embassy], 1974, Australian Capital Territory – Galarrwuy Yunupingu at the presentation of the Yirrkala petition on Land Rights to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Mr Ian Viner, 1977, Petition to Her Majesty The Queen - October 1972 [Paper work relating to petition from the Larakia/Larrakia people regarding land rights], [Petition to HM the Queen from the Larrakia/Larrakia people regarding land rights for presentation during HRH The Princess Margaret's visit to Darwin], Getting started with information management, Art – 1963 Yirrkala Bark Petition on display in Parliament House – individual panels (given to Parliament House), Petition by the Aboriginal Advancement League, 1937, Petition by the Larrakia people and others, 1972. Although the government declined to forward the petition, it remains an important chapter in the history of Aboriginal activism. The petitions asserted that the Yolngu people owned land over which the federal government had granted mining rights to a private company, Nabalco. The flags flying from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge are wonderful symbols of our heritage and identity.

Two were sent to the House of Representatives, one to Stan Davey, a well-known campaigner for Indigenous rights, and the last to Gordon Bryant.

Ronald M Berndt and Catherine H Berndt, Arnhem Land: Its History and Its People, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1954. See Plan your visit for important visitor and safety information including a request to provide your first name and a contact number.