Aboriginal Tent Embassy

26 January 1972

Billy Craigie, Tony Coorey, Michael Anderson and Bertie Williams came to Canberra on 26 January 1972 to protest the Australian Government’s position on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples land rights. They established the ‘Aboriginal embassy’ under a beach umbrella at the front of Parliament House (now known as Old Parliament House). The activists were motivated by the Gurindji peoples protest at Wave Hill and the recent ruling against the Yolgnu in the Gove Land Rights Case in the Northern Territory.

Their protest grew. Supporters joined them and set up tents, flags and banners and called on the government to act. They deliberately chose to call their protest an ‘embassy’. Charles ‘Chicka’ Dixon, who was part of the protest, said 'Australia wouldn’t recognise Aboriginal people, we considered we were a nation within a nation. So we were going to be an embassy.' Starting as a call for government recognition of Aboriginal land rights, the protest expanded. Self-determination, the government’s assimilation policy and sovereignty became central issues.

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was forced to dismantle and relocate periodically after it was established. On 26 January 1992, it was set up again at the front of Old Parliament House and protestors have remained at the site since. They permanently display their disapproval with the governments approach to First Nations issues.