Whitlam Hands Soil to Gurindji: Land Rights Landmark
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam poured a handful of red soil into the cupped hands of Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari at Wattie Creek in the Northern Territory on August 16, 1975, symbolically returning land that the Gurindji people had fought to reclaim for nine years. The Gurindji had walked off Wave Hill cattle station in 1966 to demand equal wages, but the strike evolved into something far more significant: a claim for the return of their traditional lands, taken from them by the pastoral industry. The ceremony was photographed by Mervyn Bishop in an image that became one of Australia's most iconic photographs. The moment directly inspired the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, the first legislation recognizing Indigenous land ownership.
August 16, 1975
51 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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