WugulOra Morning Ceremony
Sunday, 26 January 2025
Barangaroo
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales
Bujari gamarruwa, diyn, babana, gamarada
I pay my respects to the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of this land, to their Elders past, present and emerging, and to all First Nations peoples across our State and nation, and those present here today, whose generosity in sharing tradition and ceremony commences our Australia Day celebrations.
Premier, Ministers, Leader and Members of the Opposition, Members of our Federal Parliament, Councillors, and everyone here at this special event,
This morning’s ceremony reminds us we are on ancient land and speaks to the knowledge and culture passed down from generation to generation in an unbroken chain of care and custodianship. It gives to each of us a deeper understanding of the meaning of connection to Country, epitomised in the famous image of then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam pouring a handful of red earth into the palm of Gurindji Elder Vincent Lingiari’s hand, 50 years ago.
In 1966, Vincent Lingiari had led the strike over the wages and conditions of Aboriginal workers and their families on Wave Hill Station, some 600 kms south of Darwin. As an inquiry as far back as 1945 had found, not even the 5 shillings a day that was then the minimum award wage for Aboriginal workers was being paid.[1]
Lasting nine long years, the Strike evolved into a claim for land rights. Finally, on 16 August 1975, land was returned, the moment immortalised in that famous photograph that I have mentioned, taken by renowned Indigenous photographer, Merv Bishop, who was one of my husband Dennis’ school friends at Dubbo High.
As Whitlam poured the earth into Vincent’s hand, he acknowledged what Country meant when he said: “I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people”. Vincent responded: “Now we can all be mates”.[2]
Twelve years earlier, in Arnhem Land, 700 kms east of Darwin, under the shade of a ‘dhumulu’ tree[3], 12 Yolngu women and men gathered as representatives of their six clans and ‘tens of thousands of years of authority’[4] to sign a petition written on the bark of a stringybark tree in the Gumatj clan language and in English. The petition featured traditional Yolngu designs of turtles, fish, ray and goanna, representing their sacred relationship to and ownership of their land. [5]
The Yirrkala Bark Petitions, as they became known, were tabled in the Australian Parliament on 14 August 1963,[6] the first formal petition for Aboriginal land rights to be submitted to Federal Parliament.[7]
Today, those Petitions sit under glass casings in Canberra’s Parliament House Members’ Gallery.
Twenty-nine years after the presentation of the Petitions, and 17 years after the handover of the Gurindji lands, Native Title was recognised in Australian common law in the Mabo decision in the High Court.[8]
This year marks another important anniversary in our State: the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Freedom Ride - a 15-day bus ride undertaken by students from the University of Sydney, including Charles Perkins, through 20 New South Wales towns where Indigenous families lived in appalling conditions, overcrowded houses, many without running water or electricity, and where, infamously, the Aboriginal children of Moree were banned from swimming in the local pool.
I have recounted these significant struggles in our relatively recent history to remind us of the courage and the dignity of the leaders who led them, and to suggest that we might ask ourselves: why did recognition of rights take so long and why should it be so hard for things to change?
I am mindful, in asking those questions, that every day is an occasion to celebrate the uniqueness of this land of ours, to unravel its history, to understand the injustices, to marvel at the ancient knowledge of First Nations Australians and to honour their achievements.
Next year, it will be 60 years since Charles Perkins was the first Aboriginal person to graduate Sydney university. In the last five years, there have been two First Nations Rhodes Scholars from NSW. As today demonstrates we have amazing Indigenous artists and performers and so much more. This is also the Australian story.
So today when you are out and about, or on any day when you wander along Macquarie St and pass the Parliament building, take time to look at the Acknowledgement of Country sculpture, which pays respect to Gadigal Elders and acknowledges all First Nations people of NSW. Unveiled in August last year,[9] and set in the native garden of the Parliament’s forecourt, featuring the Grass tree - the ‘Gadi’, First Nations artist Alison Page’s sculpture of earth, stone, ochre, shell, and ash is an invitation – indeed, a reminder – to respect this vibrant living history and culture of First Nations Australians.[10]
“Yirribana Australiagal
This way Australian (s).”[11]
[1] https://independentaustralia.net/australia/australia-display/the-aboriginal-stockmens-struggle-for-equal-pay,3123
[2] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-18/timeline-of-wave-hill-land-rights/7760300
https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/lingiari-vincent-14178
[3] Yolngu word for native lasiandra
[4] Clare Wright, Naku Dharuk: The Bark Petitions – How the people of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian democracy, published October 2024, page 315
Note: SBS and NITV will precede Australia Day with a week of First Nations-led programming, including One Mind One Heart about the Yirrkala Bark Petitions, on Sunday 19 January:
[5] https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/yirrkala-bark-petitions
[6] https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/yirrkala-bark-petitions
[7] https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/land-rights#
https://adb.anu.edu.au/the-quest-for-indigenous-recognition/the-yirrkala-bark-petitions
[8] 3 June 1992: https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Art/Stories_and_Histories/The_Mabo_decision#
[9] 21 August 2024 – the sculpture and plaque were unveiled
[10] “The Parliament of New South Wales stands on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present. We proudly acknowledge all the Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales and honour their enduring connection to the lands, waters and sky of the State.
The representatives of the people of New South Wales gather from various Aboriginal lands across the State to meet in this Parliament. May the decisions made within these walls reflect our commitment to fostering a spirit of reconciliation and respect.”
[11] Anthem in language