Every August, thousands flock to Gurindji Country to attend the Freedom Day Festival, which celebrates a turning point in Australia’s post-invasion history.
On 23 August 1966, 200 Gurindji, Mudburra and Warlpiri workers and their families walked off the Wave Hill Cattle Station in the NT, supported by many non-Indigenous stockmen and unions.
Named the ‘Wave Hill walk-off’, this protest paved the way to a major Indigenous rights movement about land ownership, pay and conditions. The Gurindji people were the first Traditional Owners to have land returned.
‘[It] did change the face of Australia, what happened here’, explains Rob Roy, Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation Coordinator, Traditional Owner and Community Liaison.
Seen but not known
Many Australians have seen the iconic photo of Gough Whitlam pouring sand through Vincent Lingiari’s hands and heard the 1991 song ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody.
But those that attend the Freedom Day Festival experience the story in context, gaining an understanding of and respect for what the Gurindji people did, beyond the physical facts.
The festival began in 1983 when non-Indigenous activist Stan Davey encouraged Gurindji Elders to stage a re-enactment of the walk-off, intending to reinvigorate some of the early pride. The first re-enactment was so popular that the Kalkaringi and Dagaragu communities were deserted – everyone was at the river, or on the track.
Rob explains that the annual commemoration began as a small community event at the Victoria River in what is now the township of Kalkaringi, where the group who walked off established their first camp.
‘We had a community barbeque down there, a lot of dancing’, he recalls. The celebration gradually grew over time, especially as the story of the festival was more widely publicised in the media. ‘They come out every year and the story spread and it just grew from there’, adds Rob.
In 2016, on the 50th anniversary of the walk-off, the event drew 5,000 people, its biggest crowd ever.
Even though many of the old people passed they're probably... smiling knowing what they've left behind
Passion and persistence
The popularity of the Northern Territory Barunga and Garma festivals inspired the Gurindji community to continue developing their own annual celebration. Local people continue to lead decisions over the event, preserving Vincent Lingiari’s vision for Gurindji people to maintain control.
The launch of the Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation and the Native Title determination over Kalkaringi in 2014 gave some backing to turn the Freedom Day Festival into a major public event.
Funding is an ongoing challenge due to the expense of running any event in remote community.
‘Like Mr. Lingiari, we had no bank balance and we had no office – our dirt was our office,’ says Rob. The Gurindji community’s passion and persistence led to gaining government funding to help with the challenges of running a festival in a remote location.
‘[The government] were kind of hesitant at first, but that was over the phone. They don’t know who they’re talking to. Let’s surprise them with a door knock. And that we did,’ says Rob.
Told and untold
Among the dancing and socialising at the event, visitors experience the moment of the walk-off through joining the re-enactment.
In an immersive truth-telling experience, visitors walk the path from the old Wave Hill Station site to Vincent Lingiari’s grave, which is protected – an upgrade in partnership with the University of Melbourne. There is also a plaque commemorating the site where Whitlam poured the red sand through his fingers.
‘The atmosphere is just filled with mixed emotion, right throughout the weekend. You know, a bit of pride, bit of happiness… even though many of the old people passed they’re probably all… smiling knowing what they’ve left behind’, explains Rob.
The focus of the Freedom Day Festival is on a well-known historical event, but Rob says that it’s important the untold stories flow through too. When festivalgoers catch barramundi together at the river, it creates opportunities for meaningful one-to-one conversations and deeper truth-telling.
‘Up in the Nhulunbuy area you’ve got a lot of untold stories,’ he says. ‘Whether it’s genocide and whether it’s massacres that’s never been told what really happened.’
‘Truth – you got to tell the truth otherwise we’re not going to be a great nation. If we don’t tell the truth and try to work and live with it somehow, you know. You can’t hide things forever because it’s just gonna hurt you inside and cripple you again.’
The adults in the area are beginning to share the difficult stories with the next generation so they understand the fight for justice continues and to inspire them to follow in their ancestors’ footsteps.
Acknowledging this difficult past creates opportunities for change. And the stories continue to inspire.
These engagements start small but, as Rob says, ‘Hey, you never know it could make peace and we could all live together properly, you know, in Australia with everybody not being too much of ignorant all the time.’
‘Little things like that can make big talks, hey?’
This account of truth-telling in action is based on a case study from the Recognising community truth-telling: An exploration of local truth-telling in Australia report. The collaborative study between Reconciliation Australia and Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation documents 25 community truth-telling projects. Read the full report.
