Aboriginal Tent Embassy Protest
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy Project is recognized as the longest-running protest for Indigenous land rights globally, established on January 26, 1972, on Australia Day. It originated when four young Indigenous Australians set up a beach umbrella outside Australia's Parliament House, expressing their discontent with government policies that mandated leases for land taken from them without adequate rights or compensation. The protest quickly grew, with more activists joining and tents replacing the initial umbrella, symbolizing a call for justice regarding land ownership, mining rights, and the preservation of sacred sites.
Over the years, the Tent Embassy has expanded its focus to include broader issues affecting Indigenous Australians, such as deaths in custody and sovereignty. Despite various legislative efforts, such as the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976, many challenges remain in securing full land rights, which has sustained the annual establishment of the embassy. In 2022, the project celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, highlighting its significance as a continuous movement for Aboriginal rights and the ongoing struggle for recognition and justice in Australia. The gathering in 2022 brought together many supporters, including one of the original founders, affirming the enduring spirit of the movement.
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Aboriginal Tent Embassy Project
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy Project is the longest protest in the world for Indigenous land rights. Established January 26, 1972, on Australia Day, the Embassy Project celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2022. The tent embassy was founded by four young Indigenous Australian men and consists of tents and signs outside Parliament House, now called Old Parliament House. The men created the Tent Embassy after the Australian government decided to issue leases to Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples to use the land that had been forcibly taken from them. Aboriginal Australians had to pay for the leases, which did not include mineral rights to the land. In addition to land rights, the protest has evolved over the years to include grassroots causes such as Aboriginal deaths in custody and Aboriginal sovereignty.
Background
Indigenous Australians have been fighting for the right to own their traditional lands since Europeans began settling in Australia in the 1700s. During the 1960s and 1970s, several events took place in the country that brought national and international attention to Indigenous Australians’ fight for land rights and citizenship. In 1966, about two hundred Gurindji, Aboriginal Australians from the area now known as the Northern Territory, went on strike from Wave Hill Station, a cattle station, demanding better pay and working conditions as well as ownership of their land. They negotiated with the station owners as well as the Vestey Brothers, the largest retail company in the world. However, negotiations broke down and the strike dragged on for seven years. In the end, the Gurindji people received a portion of their homelands. In 1967, Australians overwhelmingly voted in a referendum to amend the country’s constitution to allow the government to include Indigenous Australians and Torres Straight Islander peoples in its census, clarifying their citizenship status for the first time. Reaching this milestone inspired many Indigenous Australians to fight for the right to their traditional land. The 1971 Northern Territory Supreme Court case Milirrpum v Nabalco brought media attention to the land rights struggle. In 1963, the traditional lands of the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land, a wilderness area in the Northern Territory, were sold without their permission to Nabalco, a mining company. Justice Sir Richard Arthur Blackburn ruled against the Yolngu, asserting that British law did not recognize any type of communal law, and that the British had sovereignty over the Arnhem Land. This decision infuriated Indigenous Australians as well as Indigenous people throughout the world.
In 1972, the government announced a new system regarding Indigenous Australians’ right to ownership of land. Instead of land titles, Indigenous Australians would be issued fifty-year general-purpose leases to the land if they could demonstrate social and economic uses for the land. This meant that Indigenous Australians had to pay to use their land. The leases also did not include mineral and forest rights. This decision evoked outrage among Indigenous communities and led to the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy Project.
Overview
On January 26, 1972, Australia Day, four Indigenous Australians—Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bertie Williams, and Tony Coorey—traveled from Sydney to Canberra, the country’s capital, to set up a beach umbrella outside Parliament House. They put a sign on the umbrella that said, “Aboriginal Embassy.” They called their small establishment an embassy because they said the government’s decision to lease land that had been forcibly taken from them made them feel like foreigners in their own country—and other foreigners had embassies. Their driver, Noel Hazard, was a photographer who took a series of photos that garnered significant media attention.
Within days, well-known activists such as Gary Foley, Gordon Biscoe, Isabel Coe, and Chicka Dixon traveled to the embassy, setting up tents instead of beach umbrellas. By the time Parliament resumed in February, eleven tents had been pitched outside Parliament House in support of the embassy.
On February 6, the Aboriginal Embassy gave the government a list of demands:
- Complete rights to the Northern Territory as a state within Australia and the installation of a primarily Aboriginal State Parliament. These rights included all mining rights to the land.
- Ownership and mining rights of all other Aboriginal reserve lands in Australia.
- The preservation of all sacred sites in Australia.
- Ownership of areas in major cities, including mining rights.
- Compensation for lands that were not able to be returned starting with $6 billion and including a percentage of the gross national income each year.
By the end of July, more than two thousand protestors camped in tents on the lawn outside Parliament House in support of the Embassy. When police forcibly removed the protestors from the lawn, arresting them and tearing down the tents, the protesters returned upon release and re-established the embassy. It was eventually discovered that it was legal to camp on the lawn outside Parliament House, so the police could no longer remove the protestors.
The tent embassy was re-established the following year on Australia Day and every year after that. Activist Charles Perkins indicated it would be removed after the passage of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976. However, this legislation proved to be problematic for Indigenous Australians. It permitted them to claim the title of land in the Northern Territory if they could prove a traditional association with the land. Only “unalienated Crown land,” which was land that no one had an interest in, could be claimed. Furthermore, proving a traditional association with the land was an arduous task. It required extensive research by anthropologists to find evidence, which had to be presented before the Aboriginal Land Commissioner, who would decide if the traditional owners had a right to the land.
Because of these limitations, the tent embassy continued to be erected each year and will continue to be erected until land rights for Aboriginal people throughout Australia are fully achieved. In 2022, the tent embassy celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, making it the longest continuous protest for Aboriginal rights in the world. The celebration was attended by more than two thousand people, including Michael Anderson, the only surviving member of the original four protestors.
Bibliography
Allam, Lorena. “’Fifty Years of Resistance’: Aboriginal Tent Embassy Began with an Umbrella and Became a Symbol of Sovereignty.” The Guardian, 25 Jan. 2022, www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/26/fifty-years-of-resistance-aboriginal-tent-embassy-began-with-an-umbrella-and-became-a-symbol-of-sovereignty. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Carlson, Bronwyn and Lynda-June Coe. “A Short History of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy—An Indelible Reminder of Unceded Sovereignty.” Museum of Australian Democracy, 24 Jan. 2022, www.moadoph.gov.au/blog/a-short-history-of-the-aboriginal-tent-embassy-an-indelible-reminder-of-unceded-sovereignty/. Accessed 6 June 2023.
“50th Anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.” Australian Government, 25 Jan. 2022, www.indigenous.gov.au/contact. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Foley, Gary, Andrew Schaap, and Edwina Howell. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Sovereignty, Black Power, Land Rights and the State. Routledge, 2013.
Geyle, Saffron and Eleanor Ellis. “’No Justice, No Peace,’: Aboriginal Tent Embassy Shifts Rally Aims on ‘Sovereignty Day’.” ANU Observer, 26 Jan. 2023, anuobserver.org/2023/02/02/no-justice-no-peace-aboriginal-tent-embassy-shifts-rally-aims-on-sovereignty-day-focus/. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Latimore, Jack. “Tent Embassy a Potent Celebration of Aboriginal Protest.” Sidney Morning Herald, 25 Jan. 2022, www.smh.com.au/national/tent-embassy-a-potent-celebration-of-aboriginal-protest-20220124-p59qpx.html. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Lee, Carissa, Daniel Merino, and Gemma Ware. “The Aboriginal Tent Embassy at 50: The History of an Ongoing Protest for Indigenous Sovereignty in Australia.” The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2022, theconversation.com/the-aboriginal-tent-embassy-at-50-the-history-of-an-ongoing-protest-for-indigenous-sovereignty-in-australia-podcast-180216. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Trumbull, Robert. “Australian Aboriginal Set Up ‘Embassi’ Score Diplomatic Coup.” The New York Times, 8 Mar. 1972, www.nytimes.com/1972/03/08/archives/australian-aborigines-set-up-embassy-score-diplomatic-coup.html. Accessed 6 June 2023.