Check against delivery.

Earlier this month we marked the 46th anniversary of Gurindji man Vincent Lingiari holding his hand beneath Gough Whitlam’s to receive the red earth of his own land. 

With this symbolic act, land was returned to the Gurindji in what Gough called an act of restitution that would not stand alone. 

Today we mark the 55th anniversary of the act that started it – Vincent Lingiari leading his people off Wave Hill Station. 

It was one of Australia’s most important industrial actions.

And it was the birth of the Land Rights Movement. 

If this was a little thing from which big things grew, this moment of courage and unbending dignity was one of the most seismic little things in our modern history. 

Fittingly, the Wave Hill Walk-Off is celebrated each year with the Freedom Day Festival in the Gurindji’s traditional lands in the Northern Territory.

I hope its place on our calendar grows in stature each year.

Except, unfortunately, this year. 

Like so many events, the Festival has been cancelled because of COVID. It’s a blow, but the health risks are just too high given the urgent need to increase vaccination rates. 

We will put this pandemic behind us, and the Freedom Day Festival will come back stronger than ever.