History

In a townhouse in London's Mayfair, near Berkeley Square, two Aboriginal men sing in their own language 'in praise of their lovers'. Their voices rise above the repetitive beat of the two hardwood sticks they clap together to maintain the rhythm. They wear fashionable Regency breeches, buckled shoes, ruffled shirts and waistcoats. The year is 1793 and the singers are Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne, far from their Wangal homeland on the south bank of the Parramatta River in Sydney. This was certainly the first time an Aboriginal song was performed in Europe ... [node:read-more:link]

It is time to pick up the pace for decolonisation for First Nations Peoples in Australia. We need to break away from Australia's constant lies and deceit in respect to their illegitimacy in this country. ... Our London preparatory meeting is to establish an international framework that will be spread far and wide for those First Nations Peoples who have been impacted upon by the British imperialist expansion from 14th century onwards. "It is time to pick up the pace for decolonisation for First Nations Peoples in Australia. We need to break away from Australia's constant lies and deceit in respect to their illegitimacy in this country." [node:read-more:link]

Australia does not have its own sovereignty. Under its British constitution all governments in Australia are caretakers in occupation and govern for the non-Aboriginal people who call themselves Australians. In point of fact Federal, State and Territory governments govern in right of the Crown of Britain. These are some of the issues that must be negotiated and settled if we are truly to unite on this island continent through Treaty/Treaties and decolonisation, and/or by way of Unilateral Declarations of Independence (UDIs). [node:read-more:link]

Aboriginal Australia is not fully aware of the psychological warfare perpetrated against us and it's very clear that the current dilemmas facing Aboriginal people in Australia today stems from the fact that we are under attack by a colonial regime determined to beat us into the submission of assimilation. We should never forget that the original assault by the British in 1788 was altered by Governor Phillip from one of conciliating the 'affections of the Natives' to that of infusing 'an universal terror' causing them to submit through fear, as opposed to reconciling cultural differences through negotiation. [node:read-more:link]

Fifty years ago , on the morning of August 23, 1966, Vincent Lingiari led a walk-off of 200 Gurindji, Mudburra and Warlpiri workers and their families from a remote Northern Territory cattle station, escaping a century of servitude . The families rejected the pleas of their British multinational employer Vestey’s to return to the Wave Hill station, re-occupied an area of their own land at Wattie Creek, and fought until the nation’s leaders heeded their cause. Nine years later, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically returned the Gurindji’s country with a handful of red dirt. [node:read-more:link]