Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, Australia, is the site of many Aboriginal rights protests. It is across the street from what is now the old Parliament House. The embassy was first set up in 1972 in protest of the government’s policies on the ownership of Aboriginal land. What began as a small protest grew to include dozens of tents and thousands of supporters.
Background.
The ancestors of Australia’s Aboriginal peoples likely have lived on the continent for more than 65,000 years. In 1770, the English sea captain James Cook became the first European to reach the east coast of Australia. Although he could see that Aboriginal peoples already occupied the land, he claimed it for Britain (now known as the United Kingdom). For much of Australia’s history since then, British and Australian law said that when Cook claimed it, Australia was terra nullius, a Latin legal term meaning that it belonged to no one.
Since the early days of white settlement, Aboriginal people have protested against the loss of their land and other ill treatment. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Aboriginal people began to make gains in their struggle for increased rights. In 1962, they were granted the right to vote in national elections. In 1967, Australia’s Constitution was revised to include Aboriginal people in the country’s census.
In the 1960’s, Aboriginal peoples increased their efforts to have their ownership of their lands recognized by the Australian government. In 1966, Aboriginal workers at Wave Hill station (ranch) in the Northern Territory went on strike. They sought equal pay, improved living conditions, and the right to own their traditional land. This strike, which continued for seven years, brought much attention to the struggle for Aboriginal land rights.
The tent embassy.
In January 1972, the government of Prime Minister William McMahon announced that, rather than allowing Aboriginal people to own their traditional lands, they would be allowed to lease them from the government. On Australia Day, four Aboriginal activists staged a sit-in protest across the street from Parliament. (Australia Day, celebrated each year on January 26, is Australia’s national holiday.) Michael Anderson, Tony Coorey, Billy Craigie, and Bertie Williams sat underneath an umbrella displaying a sign that said “Aboriginal Embassy.” They reasoned that they needed an embassy if the government was going to treat them like foreigners. Over the following months, multiple tents were erected on the site as thousands of activists joined the protest. The protesters drafted a petition requesting ownership and mining rights to traditional Aboriginal lands and other concessions.
In May, the government announced a new law that outlawed camping on public land in Canberra and authorized the police to remove anyone found doing so. On July 20, police marched on the embassy, tore down the tents, and clashed with protesters. The following week, the protesters attempted to re-establish the embassy. Police again clashed with protesters at the site and tore down the tents. News images of police violence against the protesters drew further sympathy and support for the activists. In September, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) ruled that the law used to remove the protesters was invalid because it was not properly gazetted (announced). In a symbolic gesture, the protesters again erected the tents and then removed them from the lawn. The law was then re-established to prevent the protesters from again setting up the embassy.
In 1973, the government set up a commission to investigate issues concerning Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory. The commission resulted in the 1976 Aboriginal Land Rights Act, which allowed Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory to gain ownership of their land. Since then, many Aboriginal groups throughout Australia have successfully gained ownership of their traditional lands.
Continued relevance.
From the mid-1970’s to the early 1990’s, the tent embassy was erected at several sites around Canberra. The protesters expanded their aims to address numerous Aboriginal rights issues. In 1992, on the 20th anniversary of the original protest, activists permanently re-established the embassy on its original site. The embassy continues to be an important site of protests for Aboriginal rights, and visitors can learn about Aboriginal history there. In 2012, the embassy celebrated a three-day “Corroboree for Sovereignty” to mark its 40th anniversary.
