The Gurindji Strike (Wave Hill Walk-Off) 1966

The ‘Wave Hill Walk-Off’ also known as the ‘Gurindji Strike’ began in 1966 lasting for nine

years, led by an Aboriginal man called Vincent Lingiari. (Australians Together, 2020)

Wave Hill was a cattle station located approximately six hundred kilometres north of Darwin

in the Northern Territory. (National Museum Australia, 2020) The strike involved around 200

stockmen and their families who left the station, refusing to return until they were promised

better working conditions and higher wages. (Australians Together, 2020) Although this was

the aim of the strike when it began on the 23rd of August 1966, in the midst of the battle for a

better life on the station, the fight developed into a struggle for equal rights and land rights to

run the cattle station properly. (Long, 1996) Finally, in 1975, the people of Gurindji were

returned the land by the acting prime minister at the time, Gough Whitlam which sparked

future change for Aborigines all over Australia. (Long, 1996) There were influencing

preceding events that took place prior to the ‘Wave Hill Walk-Off and many events that

occurred following the strike as a result of the Gurindji people inspiring other Aborigines to

reclaim the land that had been taken from them and to demand equal wages and working

conditions. This strike has gone down in history as a pivotal movement for land rights and

has shaped the awareness and way of life for Aborigines today. (Ward, 2014)

The ‘Wave Hill Walk-Off’ was led by a fifty-eight-year-old Aboriginal stockman named

Vincent Lingiari who was born on the 13th of June 1908, and had worked on the station since

becoming a young man. (Goldshmidt, 1973) Eighty years after the British invaded Gurindji

Island, the Wave Hill Walk-Off occurred in response to the abundance of mistreatments

towards Aboriginal people including massacres, stolen children and abuse along with the

unjust wages and brutal treatment while working. (National Museum Australia, 2020)
Although the appalling actions towards the Aboriginal people would have been enough to

drive this monumental movement alone, the one event that really set fire to the fight for a

better life was the Arbitration Commission’s Decision in 1965 to delay equal wages for

Aboriginal workers after they had suffered such barbaric conditions already on their own

land. (Long, 1996) Frank Hardy was an author who joined the Gurindji people in the fight for

a better life and produced a recount of their story called ‘The Unlucky Australian’s’, which

was later made into a film documentary by John Goldschmidt. Within this recount, the

Gurindji people’s lives and cultures are showcased along with the traditions that were once

allowed and accepted on their land. The Gurindji people spoke about when they first saw

cattle on their land, they found a track of a cow and calf that had been led there by the first

white men to run cattle in that area at Wave Hill and how they became friends with the

stockmen to help with hunting the cows. (Goldshmidt, 1973) After a while of co-existing the

Vestey’s purchased the land at Wave Hill and Aborigines were made a ward of the state in

which the ill treatment towards them began, the treatment was so harsh that according to

Frank Hardy’s recount, if one of the Aboriginal workers left Wave Hill they could be forcibly

brought back with chains around their neck. (Goldshmidt, 1973) The other person involved in

leading this strike was an Aboriginal man working for the white trade unions called Dexter

Daniels. (Long, 1996) It just happened that the leader of this the ‘Wave Hill Walk-Off’

Vincent Lingiari was hospitalised with a foot injury in which Dexter Daniels had the chance

to discuss a possible strike with him and inform him that many of the surrounding stations

were planning on doing the same due to their poor work conditions. (Long, 1996) It was after

this that Lingiari returned to Wave Hill station and led the strike. (Long, 1996) The leader

Vincent was a strong leader but he had the support of all Gurindji people behind him who

trusted and believed in him without which the strike would not have been possible. The

Gurindji people camped on the dry bed of the Victoria River about twenty-four kilometres
from Wave Hill station. (Ward, 2014) They ran out of food and water but they would not

return to the station until their land was returned and their rights were granted. Although this

strike was not the first in response to the Arbitration Commission’s Decision it was became

the beginning for the land rights movement and influenced many first nations people to stand

up for their rights and when the struggle was over some nine years later it inspired people to

keep persisting in their battles. (Long, 1996)

The Gurindji strike was an inspirational action towards land rights and equality for

Aboriginals in Australia. (National Museum Australia, 2020) When it began in 1966, the

‘Wave Hill Walk-Off’ took place as a result of the unjust treatment of the Aboriginal workers

on the station and the inequality of wages and work conditions, however it advanced into a

strike for the return of the Gurindji land to the Gurindji people and became a starting point

for the Aboriginal Land Rights Movement that continues to exist today. (National Museum

Australia, 2020) Frank Hardy’s ‘The Unlucky Australian’s’ provides the history that

underpins the objectives of the strike, why it occurred and the underlying finances that

impacted the wages of Aboriginal workers on the station. He speaks about the workers being

paid five dollars a week to work on the Wave Hill station in which there was only a police

station, welfare officer and cattle station, both the police and welfare officer were there for

one reason - to keep the aborigines working. (Goldshmidt, 1973) One of the workers stated

he worked seven days a week, from morning until sundown and was fed only bread and salt

beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner while spending the day mustering and branding cattle.

(Goldshmidt, 1973) The pay the Gurindji people were receiving was already extremely unjust

but what exacerbates this inequality is the amount of money the Vestey’s – the new land

owners were making from the land, Hardy wrote that 35 000 square miles was rented by the

Vestey’s from the government and 6000 of those miles were in Wave Hill. (Hardy, 2006)
Until 1954 the Vestey’s were paying only ten cents per square mile per year meaning they

were making huge profits due to the fact they were paying the workers next to nothing and

actually receiving money from the government to pay their aboriginal workers in which they

were keeping to themselves. (Goldshmidt, 1973) Due to this historical representation within

Hardy’s work, it is clear to see why the Gurindji people needed to go on strike and stand up

for their rights as they were being robbed of the freedom, humanity and wealth on a land that

was in fact their own. Frank Hardy, 2006 stated while joining their strike that he felt sad for

them, but then he remembered the appalling situation from which they had fled. It was when

the welfare branch officers tried to reach a settlement with Gurindji people for higher wages

and compensation for the inadequate working conditions that the strike became much more

than reaching an agreement. (Ward, 2014) The Gurindji people didn’t want compensation for

their awful living conditions or for the lack of money they were receiving, they wanted the

Vestey’s gone from their land and wanted to re-claim the 1290 square kilometres back to run

their own cattle station how it should be run. (Hardy, 2006) The action towards this began

about nine months after the strike started when a petition letter was sent to the governor

general with the help of Frank Hardy, it was not accepted. (Long, 1996) Back and forth

communications from the non-indigenous Australians trying to come up with ways to please

the Gurindji people continued for many years but it was when they built all new housing for

the Aborigines on the Wave Hill station in which the aborigines still refused to return as the

land claim was not honoured, that the non-indigenous Australians turned to threatening and

forceful behaviour. (Goldshmidt, 1973) Throughout everything, even when Vincent Lingiari

was told by Frank Hardy that it was getting dangerous, the Gurindji people did not give up, in

fact Vincent Lingiari led the mob to Wattie Creek where they re-built their lives with their

own culture and traditions intact. (Goldshmidt, 1973) Vincent Lingiari stated they knew how

to wait and they would keep waiting until the land was returned to them, until then they
would take it back bit by bit. (Goldshmidt, 1973) The Gurindji people learnt how to muster

and brand cattle but were not able to sell it because they legally had none of their own land to

make a brand. (Ward, 2014) It took nine whole years but their purpose of the strike was

fulfilled along with so many other aims achieved, they were granted their Wattie Creek land

by prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, a symbol of hope, courage and promise for

Aboriginal Land Rights all around Australia. (Long, 1996)

The Aboriginal Land Rights movement has been shaped by the Gurindji strike. (National

Museum Australia, 2020) Without this monumental event that occurred in Australian history,

the struggle for land rights would never have begun and would not still be continuing today.

(National Museum Australia, 2020) Along with the land rights movement that the Gurindji

strike sparked, people in the Northern Territory also celebrate the Freedom Day Festival

every year as a commemoration of the bravery and courage that the Gurindji mob displayed

when walking off Wave Hill station fifty-five years ago and the strength they held in the fight

for their land. (Australians Together, 2020) This event is truly significant in Australian

history and led to many other land claims from Aboriginals, however, land rights are still a

huge issue in our society and there are still many Aboriginals without their land. (Australians

Together, 2020) It is due to the harsh reality of the laws that makes re-claiming the land that

was once theirs so difficult that many Aboriginals spend their whole life fighting for example

the Mabo case which occurred after the Gurindji strike. (Perkins, 2008) In Rachel Perkins

‘First Australians’ documentary, Eddie Mabo’s legacy remains in which he fought his whole

life to reclaim the land passed down to him by his father, he never got to see the impact he

had on the Aboriginal Land Rights Movement but his children and generations to come will

be forever thankful. (Perkins, 2008) Another event that occurred in 1972 is the establishment

of the tent embassy in Canberra that continues today as a permanent protest for Aboriginal
Land Rights. (National Museum Australia, 2020) Not only is it so difficult to claim land in

Western Australia in particular, but once land rights have been granted to indigenous

Australians it can then be taken away for what is called the greater good of the state, for

example the recent event that took place in Juukan Gorge in which one of Australia’s mining

giants, Rio Tinto blew up a 46,000-year-old historical Aboriginal site. As is made evident by

these acts, the Aboriginal Land Rights Movement is far from over, however, what the

Gurindji strike did generate is a new level of awareness from non-indigenous Australians

who began to support aboriginals at this time. (National Museum Australia, 2020) Paul Kelly

and Kev Carmody released a protest song in 1991 named ‘From Little Things Big Things

Grow’ dedicated to the Gurindji strike which became an iconic song to represent the

Aboriginal Land Rights Movement. The same support shown by non-indigenous Australians

from 1966 is growing strong and stronger today with the ongoing education around

Aboriginal Land Rights, the protests, the acceptance of the past and recognition of the wrongs

being done and for the increasing hope that everyone can make a difference to move forward

and respect the first nations people, their history and culture. (Australians Together, 2020)

Australian society today is one of awareness but not of complete acceptance. This country

still has a long way to go but without the bravery, courage, resilience and pure determination

of the Gurindji people in 1966 this world would still be a truly awful place for our indigenous

Australians. (Hardy, 2006) It was because of the ‘Wave Hill Walk-Off’ that non-indigenous

Australian’s learnt of the past, culture and traditions of the Aboriginal community and how

the treatment they were receiving was absolutely outrageous and a complete disregard of

freedom, respect and basic human rights. (Hardy, 2006) This strike empowered the

Aboriginal people with a cultural sense, a sense of knowing who they are, being proud of

who they are going forward. (Perkins, 2008) The Gurindji strike was just the beginning of a
movement that shaped life as we know it today and will forever be the gateway to a future

full of appreciation, acceptance and acknowledgement to the indigenous Australians. (Long,

1996)

References:
Australians Together. (2020). Wave Hill Walk-Off.
https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/wave/

Goldshmidt, J. (Director). (1973). The unlucky Australians [Documentary]. Associated

Television. https://www.primevideo.com/?ref_=dvm_pds_gnr_au_dc_s_g|
m_2O76GC1Oc_c434433973117

Hardy, F, J. (2006) The unlucky australians. One Day Hill.

Long, J. (1996). Frank hardy and the 1966 wave hill walk-off. Northern Perspective, 19(2),
1-9. https://search-informit-
org.ipacez.nd.edu.au/fullText;dn=971010130;res=IELAPA

National Museum Australia. (2020). 1966: Gurindji strike (or Wave Hill Walk-Off) led by
Vincent Lingiari. https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/wave-hill-
walk-off

Perkins, R. (Host). (2008). First australians: We are no longer shadows. [TV series episode].
In B. Cole (Director), First australians. Blackfella Films.
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/first-australians

Ward, C. (2014). Following the leaders: the role of non-Indigenous activism in the
development and legitimation of Daguragu community (Wattie Creek), 1969-73.
Journal of Royal Australian Historical Society, 100(1), 69-92. https://search-informit-
org.ipacez.nd.edu.au/fullText;dn=425512348258121;res=IELHSS