On 23 August 1966, approximately 200 Gurindji stockmen and their families walked off Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory, protesting against poor working conditions and the taking of their land by pastoralists.

Led by Vincent Lingiari, this landmark action in 1966 precipitated the equal wages case in the pastoral industry and the establishment of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.

While it is well known that the Walk Off was driven by the poor treatment of Aboriginal workers, what is less well known is the previous decades of massacres and killings, stolen children and other abuses by early colonists.

Told in both English and Gurindji, these compelling and detailed oral accounts of the events that Gurindji elders either witnessed or heard from their parents and grandparents, will ignite the interest of audiences nationally and internationally and challenge revisionist historians who question the extent of frontier battles and the legitimacy of the Stolen Generations.

'It is widely acknowledged that the1966 Wave Hill Walk-Off - with Vincent Lingiari leading the Gurnidji people - was a seminal moment in the history of Aboriginal society’s tragic encounters with the European occupiers of Australia. Still, up to now, few Gurindji voices have been heard, especially on the period preceding the Walk-Off. The ‘new’ history contained here: oral accounts, maps, paintings, photos and citations, does much to fill the chasm in our understanding of the circumstances preceding that fateful moment when Lingiari and Gurindji stood their ground. I highly commend this intimate, heart wrenching, and informative account of one of the single
most important events in our recent past.'
- Peter Garrett

Production Details

• Paperback
• 275mm x 245mm x 15mm
• 256pp
• Released August 2016
• ISBN 9781925302028

Contents

Dedication
Contributors
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Before the Arrival of Europeans
Chapter 3: The Killing Times
Chapter 4: Malyalyimalyalyi/Lipanangku: The First Wave Hill Station
Chapter 5: Jinparrak- The Second Site for Wave Hill Station
Chapter 6: The Wave Hill Settlement
Chapter 7: Early Policemen and Trackers
Glossary of Gurindji and Kriol Words
Acknowledgments
Story Sources
Endnotes
References
Index

About The Cover

Front cover image: Ronnie Wavehill at the remains of the yards at the site of the of the first Wave Hill Station. (Brenda L Croft 2015)

Back cover images: (Top) Women and children at the old station in 1925. (Photo: Michael Terry collection, courtesy of NLA); (Middle) Remians of the yards at the site of the original Wave Hill Station. (Photo: Brenda L Croft 2014.); (Bottom) Early encounters: Michael Terry and a man painted up ready to perform Wangka ceremony at the old station in 1925. (Photo: Michael Terry Collection, courtesy of NLA)