[Theme Music Starts]

RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am.

Fifty years ago today a group of four Aboriginal men planted a beach umbrella on the lawns in front of Parliament House, as part of a protest over land rights.

That action marked the beginning of the longest ever Indigenous land-rights protest in history: the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

Kamilaroi Uralarai woman Frances Peters-Little, visited the tent embassy as a young high school student in 1974. Two decades later she made a documentary about the four men who founded it, and what they were fighting for.

Today, Frances Peters-LIttle on why land rights is so fundamental to the campaign for Indigenous justice.

And a warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners… today’s episode features the voices of deceased persons.

It’s Wednesday January 26.

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RUBY:

Frances hello how are you?

FRANCES:

Hi, how are you?

RUBY:

I’m good, nice to speak with you again.

FRANCES:

Yep yep, we thought the sound quality was better when I turned my camera off.

RUBY:

Perfect, ok great let’s get started.

FRANCES:

Ok

RUBY:

So Frances, it has now been 50 years since the Tent Embassy was established - it’s the longest running Indigenous land rights protest in the world. Before we talk about the Embassy itself though, can you tell me about what was happening in Australia in the lead up to its formation?

FRANCES:

Well, in many ways you've got leading up to the tent, you've got movement in the 50s, the 60s.

There was the Freedom Rides, which was in 1965.

Archival tape – Charles Perkins:

“The whole freedom ride is not so much for the white people. My deeper objective was for Aboriginal people to realise, Hey, listen. Second class is not good enough, you know?”

FRANCES:

And then you had 1966 walk off from Wave Hill Cattle Station in the Northern Territory.

Archival tape – News:

“These Aboriginal stockmen are on strike. They walked off the job over a month ago.”

FRANCES:

which was led by Vincent Lingiari.

Archival tape – Vincent Lingiari:

“I'm going to do the land and when I do something about it, if I get the cattle, if I get a horse, I might grow a bit bigger and to start something else more”

FRANCES:

And then in 1967, you then had the 1967 referendum. Where the vast majority of Australians voted in favour of Aboriginal rights.

Archival tape – Faith Gandler:

“The referendum is on Saturday, they are waiting to see whether or not the white Australians will take with him, as one people, the dark Australian.”

FRANCES:

But in the 70s, what was happening there was a Black Power movement in the United States.

Archival tape – Huey Newton:

“The Black Panther Party are practical revolutionaries. We are identified with the armed struggle of colonised people throughout the world.”

FRANCES:

And they very much had influence over our protesters in Sydney. And so Sydney was a very politically active place.

Archival tape – Michael Anderson:

“Since you're talking about black power, being a black power, named and branded as a black power, my aims are to see that our people are given justice. 1972 to me is the year for Aboriginal justice.”

FRANCES:

And what had underlined all that was it was ongoing concern for land rights.

Archival tape – Protests:

“White Australian police against Black Australian Aboriginals”

Archival tape – Protests:

(Chanting) “Land rights now!”

FRANCES:

Land had always been the basis of everything, so land was absolutely crucial to a lot of the movements from back in the 40s, up until the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Archival tape – Paul Coe:

“Well, land rights is not something one can separate from the Aboriginal psyche.”

FRANCES:

And so basically on the day leading up to the 26th of January 1972, there were four Aboriginal people, Billy Craggy from Moree, Michael Anderson from Walgett, Bertie Williams was from Cowra, and Tony Curie from Tweed Heads.

Archival tape – Tony Coorey:

“We decided to go down to Canberra and protest by a guard on a starvation diet to try to capture the Australian's attention to the deplorable conditions.”

FRANCES:

And so they arrived down in Canberra in front of old Parliament House…

Archival tape – Documentary reenactment:

“You got everything? Umbrella, manila folder, plastic, laces…”

FRANCES:

And erected a beach umbrella with Manilla folders and shoe laces.

Archival tape – Michael Anderson:

“And we went down here and we went around to Charlie's mates and the best that they had was a big beach umbrella…”

FRANCES:

Yeah that was the start of it really.

Archival tape – Billy Craigie:

“The embassy really highlighted to me what sort of strength that Aboriginal people have got when we all come together in unity.”

RUBY:

And could you tell me a bit about your own experience at the tent embassy, Frances? How old were you when you first went there, and can you tell me about the types of things that you learnt just through spending time there?

FRANCES:

Well, I mean, I was still at high school in ‘72, but I did move to Canberra in 1974 and the tent embassy was still up on the ground floor and there was still a lot of the original protesters who would be camping out there in front of old Parliament House, and so on the way to one of my classes I said oh bugger this, I’m going to go and have a look at this tent embassy and I wandered in and then I met up with a lot of cousins and friends.

The concept of land rights, as it was described to me back in those days by my cousin, Bob McLeod, was that he said, Do you believe in land rights? And I said, I don't know. What is it? He said ‘Oh Frances, you know. Do you believe that this land belongs to Aboriginal people?’ I said yes, of course, and he said ‘Well then, don’t you think we have a right to our own land?’ and like oh yeah, state the obvious, you know? It was a no brainer.

RUBY:

Yeah, and even though it seems obvious to a lot of people, the Liberal government at the time wasn’t that receptive to those demands. But things started to change when Gough Whitlam was elected - he did respond to that campaign didn’t he?

FRANCES:

Well, I mean, the McMahon government goes in late 1972, and Whitlam gets voted in in 1972. And one of the first things that Gough Whitlam was able to do was that he was able to grant land rights to Vincent Lingiari and the people there at Wave Hill.

Archival tape – Gough Whitlam:

“I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof in Australian law that these lands belong to the Gurindji people.”

FRANCES:

So that was an immediate response. And it was an extraordinary symbolism.

Archival tape – Vincent Lingiari:

“Well, we're friendly now. We’re all mates. We’re all mates.”

FRANCES:

But you know, of course, the problem was the mining companies and all that started to get concerned about the groundswell and made to fight back and try and destroy what was being established in Canberra back then.

RUBY:

Ok so can you tell me more about that - to what extent did the interests of mining companies undermine the fight for land rights?

FRANCES:

Yeah, there had always been lobbyists against the Aboriginal land rights movement. And the most powerful, I suppose, that you could look at would be the mining companies.

What eventually emerged from all of that was the Western Mining Corporation in W.A., with Hugh Morgan, decided to send out full page ads in newspapers every week - they even had television advertisements.

Archival tape – Television Ads, overlapping:

“Do you know that as a Western Australian, you're a part owner of your state?”
“Do you think it's fair that less than three percent of our population should claim ownership of up to 50 percent of our land…?”
“No Western Australians should be made an intruder in their own state.”

FRANCES:

You know, threatening the Australian public to say, If you allow for Aboriginal people to get land rights, you're going to lose this. Aboriginal people are going to take over... And people everywhere were getting sort of paranoid about it, thinking that Aboriginal people wanted their backyards or their swimming pools or something. It was ridiculous. But still, the lobby for the mining company, particularly in Western Australia, was way too powerful.

And by that time, you know, I've got Bob Hawke, who's coming up to his election.

And it seemed for a while that Bob Hawke might in fact support the national land rights movement.

Archival tape – News:

“In February of 1985. The Minister Clyde Holding introduced his preferred national land rights model.”

FRANCES:

But he got a little bit chicken at the end of it all because you could see that there were too many people who were going to vote against him.

Archival tape – News:

“With the federal election fast approaching, Bob Hawke heeded the warning. When Brian Burke declared that no land rights legislation in his state would give Aborigines control over mining, the prime minister stood by him.”

FRANCES:

You can definitely say it was the Hawke government and the mining lobbyists.

Archival tape – News:

“The federal government will not go ahead with Aboriginal land rights.”

FRANCES:

It was the death knell of land rights.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Frances, your documentary was made for the 20 year anniversary of the tent embassy, and that was in 1992. In that year, there was also this renewed push to reinvigorate the embassy itself, to renew protests there and to once again push for change. 1992 though was also the year of the Mabo decision where Eddie Mabo and others successfully argued against the Terra Nullius declaration and won the right for First Nations people to claim ownership over their land. That case led to the establishment of native title, and so I just wonder what your thoughts are on the enduring legacy of the Mabo decision and on land rights more broadly.

FRANCES:

What Mabo did, you know, which was handed down in 1992 in the High Court was that it was able to smash the myth that on Captain Cook's arrival he deemed Australia as Terra Nullius, which meant that Aboriginal people didn't exist and the continent of Australia was an empty land.

But the problem with native title is that, unlike land rights - native title is something that is given, you know, given a title by any time the government, and at any time the government can take it off you.

So when you get native title, which I've just been able to win my native title case - you can make a fire, you know, or you can chop down the wood or you can fish in the rivers. You know, you don't actually own that land.

There is no proper way of being able to have independence and a strong social and economic foothold. So native title is a pretty poor excuse for land rights.

RUBY:

Mm. And so, Francis, when you think about land rights, the original intention, the aim of the movement, those protests at the tent embassy from 1972 onwards. And then you look at where we are now. What do you think?

FRANCES:

Look, you know, I mean, in my film Tent Embassy, you have Bobby Sykes and she says this fantastic line that she offered, she says

Archival tape – Bobby Sykes:

“That's the way the situation is going to be. Somebody is going to be stirring up our water. And when we swim around, we’re whirled around in it, you can't blame us that we look like we're whirling.”

FRANCES:

You know, the government has been stirring us and stirring us and stirring us around forever and ever. And is it any wonder that we look like we're whirling.

Archival tape – Bobby Sykes:

“Until we get a prime minister who is committed to the concept of human rights and equality and the recognition of indigenous peoples' rights.”

FRANCES:

You know, one minute we're talking about reconciliation, next minute we're talking about a voice in parliament, we're talking about treaties, we're talking about sovereignty, we're talking about self-determination. We're talking about, you know, all sorts of myriad of ideas and things for our own development as a people. And it's not like it's getting anywhere.

But one of the things that I'll say about the actual tent itself is that I think the tent is extraordinary in that it is still ongoing. Probably the most longest going protest movement on Earth.

I think its most powerful impact is that it reminds everybody that we continue to protest. If you didn't have the tent embassy there, where do you find that ongoing resistance?

We have got so many urgent issues, but I think what the tent embassy does, is it centers it all.

The thing that I think is the most powerful part of it is that they're independent. They're not in a government bureaucracy, they're not speaking on behalf of the government, they’re Aboriginal people who are there, in your face, in Canberra. And it's a focal point for us.

Today you know we talk about one of the things that Aboriginal kids are being put into jails at the age of 10, if you had Aboriginal people having their own land and their own rights and all those sorts of stuff that let us deal with our kids, let us deal with the legal problems that we're having. If we had our own terms of how prisons are, if we were, they were on our terms, then I don't think that we're going to be always behind the eight ball of waiting for the closing of the gap.

And I think that that's what land offers you. And at the end of the day, know the thing that is always said is that it's Aboriginal land always was, always will be that will never, ever go away.

RUBY:

It is. Frances, thank you so much for your time today and for talking to me about all of this.

FRANCES:

Thanks for having me.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today,

The federal government has negotiated to purchase the copyright for the Aboriginal flag for approximately $20 million dollars.

The deal was struck with the flag’s artist, land rights activist Harold Thomas, who designed it in 1971.

Use of the flag design will now follow the same protocols as the Australian National Flag, where its use is free, but it must be treated with respect and dignity.

And in NSW, pandemic restrictions have been extended for another month.

Restrictions around mask wearing and venue capacity will now be in place until February 28.

QR code check-ins are to remain compulsory at certain venues and dancing and singing at venues also remains banned.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said that maintaining the restrictions was necessary as infections were set to increase when children returned to school.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. See ya tomorrow.