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Well May We Say (Excerpt)
by Sally Warhaft (Editor)

A week after taking office in December 1972, prime minister Gough Whitlam (1916- ) announced that there would be a royal commission to advise his new government on the granting of Indigenous land rights. At the same time, negotiations began on the issuing of a lease to the Gurindji people of the Victoria River district in the Northern Territory, whose land had been occupied since the 1850s by the Wave Hill pastoral station, and later, by the British pastoral company, Vestey Ltd. In 1966, Aboriginal elder Vincent Lingiari (1908-1988) had led his people off the station to a nearby riverbed. The strike began over the station owner's refusal to pay the Indigenous stockmen $25 a week in wages, but soon transformed into a greater demand for their ancestral lands.

In 1975 the Gurindji people were granted a land lease to 3250 square kilometres of the old Wave Hill station, including significant sacred sites. On 16 August, prime minister Whitlam - known to the Gurindji as 'Jungarni', meaning 'that big man' - and other prominent guests took part in a ceremony to return the land to the Gurindji people. At the conclusion of his speech, Whitlam picked up a handful of soil from the ground and poured it into Lingiari's outstretched hand, symbolising the handover of the Crown lease, which he had also given to Lingiari moments before. The Gurindji people renamed their land Daguragu Station, and by 1977 were running over 5000 head of cattle, installing new bores and fencing new paddocks. In 1986 the lease was converted to freehold. Lingiari was awarded an Order of Australia in 1976 and he is remembered as an important and widely respected tribal leader. His speech in reply to prime minister Gough Whitlam at the handover ceremony was translated from the original Gurindji language by Patrick McConvell.

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam

On this great day, I, Prime Minister of Australia, speak to you on behalf of the people of Australia - all Australians who honour and love this land we live in.

For them I want:

First, to congratulate you, and those who have shared your struggle, on the victory you have won in that fight for justice begun nine years ago when in protest you walked off Wave Hill Station;
Secondly, to acknowledge that we Australians have still much to do to redress the injustice and oppression that has for so long been the lot of black Australians;
Thirdly, to promise you that this act of restitution which we per-form today will not stand alone - your fight was not for yourselves alone and we are determined that Aboriginal Australians everywhere will be helped by it;
Fourthly, to promise that, through their government, the people of Australia will help you in your plans to use this place fruitfully for the Gurindji;
Finally, to give back to you formally in Aboriginal and Australian law ownership of this land of your fathers.

Vincent Lingiari, I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people and I put into your hands this piece of the earth itself as a sign that we restore them to you and your children forever.

Vincent Lingiari

The important white men are giving us this land ceremonially, ceremonially they are giving it to us.
It belonged to the whites, but today it is in the hands of us Aboriginals all around here.
Let us live happily together as mates, let us not make it hard for each other.
The important white men have come here, and they are giving our country back to us now.
They will give us cattle, they will give us horses, then we will be happy.
They came from different places away, we do not know them, but they are glad for us.
We want to live in a better way together, Aboriginals and white men, let us not fight over anything, let us be mates.
He [the Prime Minister] will give us cattle and horses ceremonially; we have not seen them yet; they will give us bores, axes, wire, all that sort of thing.
These important white men have come here to our ceremonial ground and they are welcome, because they have not come for any other reason, just for this [handover].
We will be mates. White and black, you [Gurindji] must keep this land safe for yourselves, it does not belong to any different 'welfare' man.
They took our country away from us, now they have brought it back ceremonially.

This excerpt is taken from Well May We Say... The Speeches that Made Australia, Edited by Sally Warhaft and available now through Black Inc. Books.

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	Sally Warhaft (Editor)

	Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne anthropologist. She previously worked as a youth affairs officer for ...>>




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