Wave Hill sources and resources
National Museum of Australia: Wave Hill walk-off pages
Fact sheet: Information about the strike, the move to Wattie Creek, the petition, community support and the handback. Includes photos and audio of ‘Gurindji Blues’.
Gurindji petition to Governor-General Casey, 1966
Primary source: Scan of original petition, with thumb prints of Gurindji petitioners.
1968 ABC TV This Day Tonight
Video file of 1968 broadcast, 6.58 min.
In 1968, the ABC TV’s This Day Tonight crew visited Wave Hill Station and Wattie Creek where the striking Gurindji had set up camp. Reporter Peter Luck interviewed the Gurindji strikers, including the softly spoken Vincent Lingiari. Also interviewed is the manager of Wave Hill Station, who overlooks a track record dating back tens of thousands of years when he expresses doubt that ‘the native could handle land if he were given it’.
‘Gurindji Blues’
Audio recording
In 1967, after hearing Minister for the Interior Peter Nixon’s plan to dismiss the Gurindji claim to their land, poet Ted Egan wrote ‘Gurindji Blues’. A singer–songwriter who had a long association with Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, Egan listened to the Gurindji people and recorded their views about land in the song. ‘Gurindji Blues’ was recorded by RCA in 1971. A young Yolngu spokesman, Galarrwuy Yunupingu,
accompanied Egan.
Listen and read the lyrics
‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’
‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ is a song by Australian artists Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody. Written in the 1980s, it tells the inspiring story of the Gurindji people’s struggle for equality and land rights after their 1966 walk-off at Wave Hill. Read the lyrics
ABC Splash digi book: Vincent Lingiari the Leader
Digi book
Produced for Year 6, this digital book uses words and pictures to explain the Wave Hill story.
Film and Sound archive: Wattie Creek explained by Chris Taylor
Video 5.24 mins
Take a voyage of discovery with Chris Taylor as he reveals the story behind Wattie Creek.
Freedom Day Festival
www.freedomday50.com.au
In August, there will be a major event at Kalkaringi to mark the fiftieth anniversary. This site has images of Gurindji life today.