Lingiari, Vincent (1919?-1988), was an Aboriginal activist and an elder of the Gurindji, a First Nations people of Australia. First Nations are the original peoples of the land that is now Australia. The term includes both the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and the Torres Strait Islander peoples. Lingiari is best known for leading the Wave Hill Walk-Off, a civil rights protest in Australia that began in 1966.
Lingiari’s exact birth date is not known. He was believed to have been born in 1919 along the Victoria River in Australia’s Northern Territory. He began working at the Wave Hill station (cattle ranch) during his teenage years. On Aug. 23, 1966, Lingiari led about 200 stockmen (ranch workers) in a strike. Gurindji representatives met with members of the North Australian Workers Union and the Northern Territory Council for Aboriginal Rights to voice the stockmen’s concerns over low pay and poor living conditions.
In March 1967, the strikers moved to Wattie Creek, about 20 miles (33 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 the strikers’ primary concern, more than wages and work conditions, was reclaiming ownership of their land.
Over the following years, the Gurindji people 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 people 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. In an August 1975 ceremony at Wattie Creek, Whitlam symbolically transferred the land to the Gurindji people 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 lead to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Under this act, the Australian government legally recognized Aboriginal peoples’ rights to traditional lands. Lingiari died on Jan. 21, 1988.
