[1] Though initially interpreted merely as a strike against working and living conditions, the primary demand was for return of some of the traditional lands of the Gurindji people, which had covered approximately 3,250 square kilometres (1,250 sq mi) of the Northern Territory before European settlement.
The walk-off persisted until 16 August 1975, when–after brokering an agreement with titular landowners the Vestey Group–Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was able to give the rights to a piece of land back to the Gurindji people in a highly symbolic handover ceremony.
On 8 September 2020 the traditional owners were granted native title over 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi) of the Wave Hill Station land.
The Gurindji, an Aboriginal Australian people, had lived on their traditional land in the remote Victoria River area for tens of thousands of years.
[2] The Gurindji and other Aboriginal peoples found their waterholes and soakages fenced off or fouled by cattle, which also ate or trampled fragile desert plant life, such as bush tomato.
Dingo hunters ("doggers") regularly shot the people's hunting dogs as well as kangaroos as they competed with cattle for water and grazing land.
There was little choice to stay alive but to move onto the cattle stations, receive rations, adopt a more sedentary life and, where possible, take work as stockmen and domestic help.
Legislation passed in 1913 required employers to provide Aboriginal workers food, clothes, tea and tobacco in exchange for their work.
[5] Pastoralists were able to make use of the now landless Aboriginal people, who wanted to stay on their traditional lands, as extremely cheap manual labour.
A Northern Territory government inquiry held in the 1930s said of Vesteys:[6] It was obvious that they had been ... quite ruthless in denying their Aboriginal labour proper access to basic human rights.However, little was done over the decades leading up to the strike.
[5] By August 1966 the Gurindji had had enough of waiting for an improvement to their living and working conditions,[5] and a campaign in solidarity with their cause had stirred support across the country.
Writer Frank Hardy organised a speaking tour for Daniels, and through their networks and unions in Sydney and Melbourne collected thousands of pounds for a strike fund.
[15] On 23 August 1966, led by Lingiari, about 200 workers (stockmen and domestic servants) and their families walked off Wave Hill and began their ten-year strike for better pay and conditions and land rights.
[16] In March 1967 the Gurindji decided to move from their first camp in the dry bed of the Victoria River to an important sacred site nearby at Wattie Creek/Daguragu.
We want this land; we strike for that.Billy Bunter Jampijinpa was 16 years old at the time of the walk-off: The Vesteys mob came and said they would get two killers (slaughtered beasts) and raise our wages if we came back.
[2] While living at Daguragu, the Gurindji people drew up maps showing areas they wanted excised from pastoralist land and returned to them.
[16] In late 1966 the Northern Territory government offered a compromise pay rise of 125 per cent, but the strikers still demanded wages equal to those of white stockmen and return of their land.
Demonstrations and arrests occurred in southern Australia, and many church, student and trade union groups gave practical and fundraising support to the Gurindji struggle.
The struggle would, however, continue for another eight years, during which Lingiari, Jampijinpa and others toured the country, giving talks, raising awareness, and building support for their cause.
[23] Also in 1968, the Liberal-National Coalition federal government under John Gorton offered 20 houses at Wave Hill Welfare Settlement (now Kalkarindji), but the Gurindji would not be enticed by this.
It called a halt to development leases granted by the Northern Territory Land Board that might damage Indigenous rights and suspended mining exploration licences.
[5] In 1975, the Labor government of Gough Whitlam finally negotiated with the Vesteys company to give the Gurindji back a small portion of their land.
A group of those involved in the Wave Hill walk-off have said that they would be prepared to make a reparation claim for underpaid and stolen wages as a test case.
[37] A native title claim was lodged in 2016 by the Central Land Council, as there were mining interests in area covered by Wave Hill Station's pastoral lease.
[41] On 8 September 2020, the Federal Court of Australia recognised the native title rights of the Gurindji people to 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi) of the Wave Hill Station, allowing them to receive royalties as compensation from resource companies who explore the area.
Justice Richard White said that the determination recognised Indigenous involvement (Jamangku, Japuwuny, Parlakuna-Parkinykarni and Yilyilyimawu peoples) with the land "at least since European settlement and probably for millennia".
[41][42] The court sitting took place nearly 800 kilometres (500 mi) south of Darwin, and descendants of Lingiari and others involved in the walk-off celebrated the determination.
[41] The traditional owners will participate in the mining negotiations and exploration work, from which royalties may flow in the future, but just as important is the right to hunt, gather, teach and perform cultural activities and ceremonies, and allow the young people to connect with their land.
[47] Irish folk musician Damien Dempsey's song "Wave Hill Walk Off", on his 2016 album No Force on Earth, commemorates the Gurindji strike and the struggle for Aboriginal land rights.
[48][49] The words to the first verse are:[49] In the year of Lord Jesus nineteen and sixty six, A great rumbling sound came from up in the sticks, All these gentle black warriors they dreamed of a Bill, And enough was enough, so they walked off Wave Hill.