Wave Hill Walk-Off was a civil rights protest in Australia that began in 1966. A group of Aboriginal stockworkers went on strike at the Wave Hill station (cattle ranch), about 375 miles (600 kilometers) south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. In part, they protested against low wages and poor treatment. Their underlying concern, though, was the ability to own their traditional lands. The protest is also called the Gurindji << guh RIHN jee >> Strike, because the strikers belonged to the Gurindji tribe.
The protest lasted into the mid-1970’s and drew attention to and support for the issue of Aboriginal land rights. The Gurindji were ultimately successful, and some of their land was first returned to them in 1975.
Background.
The Gurindji people have lived in the Victoria River area of what is now the Northern Territory for tens of thousands of years. In the 1880’s, when the region was part of South Australia, the colonial government granted a parcel of traditional Gurindji land to the Irish-born explorer Nathaniel Buchanan, who built a cattle station on the land.
The station, which was sold to the British food company Vestey Brothers (now Vestey Foods) in 1914, soon employed many Gurindji workers. They were paid little and lived in squalid conditions. Over the years, Aboriginal activists sought to improve the conditions at the station and secure better payment. But the station’s owners resisted such requests.
The walk-off.
On Aug. 23, 1966, Gurindji tribal elder Vincent Lingiari << LIHN gee AH ree >> led about 200 stockmen in a strike. Gurindji representatives met with members of the North Australian Workers Union and the Northern Territory Council for Aboriginal Rights to voice their concerns over their low pay and living conditions.
In April 1967, the strikers moved to Wattie Creek, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Wave Hill station. There, they established the settlement of Daguragu. They chose the Wattie Creek area because it had good water and was close to several Gurindji sacred sites. The move demonstrated that their primary concern, more than wages and work conditions, was reclaiming ownership of their land. Later that year, the strikers petitioned Governor General Lord Casey asking for an area of 500 square miles (1,300 square kilometers) around Wattie Creek to develop mining facilities and a cattle station. Their request was denied.
Over the following years, the Gurindji continued to petition the Northern Territory Administration and the federal government. In 1972, the government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced the creation of funds to enable Aboriginal groups to purchase land. In 1973, the Gurindji obtained rights to about 10 square miles (25 square kilometers) that included the Wattie Creek settlement site. In 1975, the original lease to the Wave Hill land was terminated. A portion of the land was leased back to Vestey Brothers, while about 1,250 square miles (3,237 square kilometers) were leased to the Gurindji community. In an August 1975 ceremony at Wattie Creek, Whitlam symbolically transferred the land to the Gurindji by pouring a handful of soil into Lingiari’s hands.
The Wave Hill Walk-Off helped raise awareness of Aboriginal land rights issues. It helped pave the way for the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, under which the Australian government legally recognized Aboriginal peoples’ rights to traditional lands. The Gurindji were then able to apply to replace the lease with a freehold title, which recognized their full ownership of the land. They obtained the freehold in March 1986.
