Gurindji and the University of Melbourne

Abstract

The remote settlements of Kalkaringi and Daguragu in Australia’s Northern Territory are home to Gurindji, Warlpiri, Mudburra, Bilinarra, Malngin and Ngarinyman peoples, famous for initiating the walk-off and strike[PS2.1][DO2.2] at the Wave Hill cattle station in 1966. The striking workers included Indigenous women and children labouring at the homestead and men on the land. The large pastoral cattle stations that had been developed in the north of Australia from the beginning of the nineteenth century were on stolen lands that have never been ceded. The strikers’ grievances went beyond stolen wages and general mistreatment to include the lack of recognition of their ownership of the land.