January 26 is the official Australia Day 'celebration' , but the Aboriginal people who have been here for over 10,000 years call it 'Invasion Day' . With 21 gun salutes, and air force flyovers in the background, aboriginal elders at
Isabel Coe (Aboriginal elder, mother of one of the 4 aboriginal activists who set up the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972) Alfie Neale (Aboriginal elder, from a remote community in Northern Queensland) Michael Anderson (Aboriginal activist, one of the original 4 who set up the first tent Embassy in 1962) Michael Mansell (Tasmanian aboriginal activist, spokesman, and leader). Martin Jansen (co-producer) Warwick Fry (recorder) 2 NimFM community radio The NAB (Luke, and the National Aboriginal Broadcasters) The Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia.
Still learning how to deal with outdoor sound. Hopefully we can improve the sound quality and replace the soundfiles soon. 4 of the speakers at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawn in front of the old Parliament House, set up in 1972. Inspiring, and down to earth talk from: Elizabeth Coes, Alfie Neale, Michael Anderson, and Michael Mansell, all living legends in the history of the Aboriginal Land Rights movement in Australia. Individual recordings, blurbs as follows:
'Australia Day' - January 26 - has been offically declared "Aboriginal Sovereignty Day" by living legend, Aboriginal Elder, Auntie Isabel Coe. Hear her ringing declaration, and what it really means. Historic words delivered from the Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy. The embassy was established on the lawns in front of the old Parliament House, and has existed continually since 1972.
2nd Speaker Aboriginal Tent Embassy January 26. Alfie Neale, from a remote Aboriginal community in Northern Queensland follows up Isabel Coe's call for a declaration of Aboriginal Sovereignty Day, with charming recollections of the first tent embassy in 1972, and insights into tribal law. What does it mean, why do aborigines respect it, and how can it guide the movement today, in the context of tolerating the anglo-european legal system?
Michael Anderson at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. 3rd Speaker. Michael, one of the original 4, who sat up under a Beach Umbrella in front of the old Parliament House of Australia in 1972. They triggered a political panic when they declared it the Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy. This Embassy became the focus for the aboriginal land rights movement. Michael delivers an awesome history lesson. How did these four callow, and apparently shy, aboriginal people (among the first to gain University degrees)do it? By setting up the Tent Embassy, they started a movement that brought to Australia recognition that it was the only British Colonial nation that did not afford legal recognition to the original inhabitants. Until 1967, Australian aboriginals did not have the vote. As a non-people, they were 'wards of the state' who had no land rights. In the early 1970s these young activists claimed rights to a continent from which they had been dispossessed. Only in the 1990s was there a legal recognition that Australia had been inhabited before the Europeans arrived. According to Michael, it wasn't easy for these early activists to make the first move. They were, as young activists, negotiating a space between aboriginal law and respect for their elders, and the anglo-white legal and political system that is still a minefield for many. A fascinating, ego-free, history lesson for us all.
Michael Mansell Tasmanian Aboriginal activist elder, and another living legend, lays it on the line during the 'Australia Day' "celebrations". Listen to the Australian Air Force (still called the 'Royal' Australian Air Force!) Jets buzz Canberra in the background; the Australian Howard government's idea of celebration - while Michael makes a ringing endorsement for Isabel Coe's call to name January 26 "Aboriginal Sovereignty Day". Michael outlines the risks and dangers, and the losses the movement has incurred by the tendency of some aboriginal representatives to negotiate and make political concessions to the present Howard government, at the expense of losing some of the hard won rights. Some hard talking, here.
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