To Kalkarindji Gurindji traditional owner and elder Rob Roy, the Wave Hill Walk-Off is one of the most important turning points in Australian history, which ultimately returned his land, and more than half of the Northern Territory, to Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names and images of Indigenous people who have died.
“It’s such a historic event because it changed Australia in regard to fair wages — it was one of those pivotal moments,” Mr Roy said.
“Vincent Lingiari fought against all the odds, and so his legacy will remain hundreds of years from now; he literally changed the whole nation of Australia.”
Rob Roy says the Wave Hill Walk-Off changed Australia. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)
This weekend, hundreds of people will converge on the remote community of Kalkarindji to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Gurindji leader Vincent Lingiari leading 200 Indigenous cattlemen and domestic servants off the station, in strike action over their employer Vestey Brothers’ refusal to pay them wages equal to non-Indigenous workers.
It came after the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission had in March 1966 ruled Indigenous cattle station workers should no longer suffer wage discrimination, but that change would not happen for three years.
The Gurindji workers’ refusal to accept that delay, and anger over the cattle station operator’s unwillingness to recognise their traditional ownership of the land, led to a political struggle that prompted then-prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1972 to commit to “establish once and for all Aborigines’ rights to land”.
In 1975, Mr Whitlam ceremonially poured soil from Mr Lingiari’s country into his hands, and in 1976 the federal government passed the Land Rights Act, allowing NT traditional owners to start re-establishing their land ownership through the courts.
Gough Whitlam pouring soil into the hands of Vincent Lingiari, symbolically handing the station back in 1975. (AGNSW: Mervyn Bishop)
Mr Roy said his father Roy was a stockman on Wave Hill and his mother Maryanne was a domestic servant to the station manager, and both parents took part in the walk-off.
“My parents told me they walked away from the living conditions,” he said.
“It was pretty hard, all they had was tin sheds to cover up from the rain and heat and cold.
“They got paid in rations, like flour, sugar and tea; there were no proper wages.
“The old fella Vincent Lingiari told everyone to gather round, and he said, ‘We’ve had enough, we’re going to go, we’re going to walk.’
“How they were treated, he wanted to break away from that; he wanted to take his people away so they could do things on their own their way, on their own land.”
He said the group who walked off didn’t realise their strike would evolve into a full-blown political battle to have their land rights recognised.
Rob Roy says Vincent Lingiari’s legacy will continue for hundreds of years. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)
But Mr Roy said even now, there was still a lot more work to be done to ensure Indigenous communities that have had their land rights recognised are benefiting financially and socially.
“A lot of the communities in the Territory, and Australia, we’re still struggling in regard to medical, housing, education — there’s a little bit more fight left over,” he said.
Across the NT, the recognition of land rights has meant more than $3 billion in royalties has been paid to traditional owners, their representative land councils and an economic and community development fund, by governments and companies.
The money comes from traditional owners hosting mines, railway lines, pipelines and other infrastructure on their land.
But Mr Roy said he wanted to see more young Indigenous people working on their land.
“A lot of the communities try — we have our own businesses, including the community shop here,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say we’re that successful yet but then there’s also success in self-determination.”
Speed of change brought ‘devastating’ results
John Mills, pictured as a young man, was an overseer at Wave Hill when the walk-off occurred. (Supplied: John Mills)
In the early 1970s, John Mills was an overseer and relief manager on Wave Hill Station.
To him, the legacy of the Wave Hill Walk-Off is high levels of Indigenous unemployment across the Territory, many communities reliant on government welfare and royalties, and with high levels of alcohol-related health and social problems.
“To me, it was devastating — people went to settlements like Kalkarindji, they lost a lot of purpose in their lives and a lot of their culture, partly because of alcohol, and money they didn’t know what to do with,” he said.
Employment statistics from the 2021 census show Indigenous employment in remote Australia is only 42 per cent.
Mr Mills said before the walk-off, a majority of their workers were Indigenous.
“Most of the people on the station were gainfully employed, and their families lived in a camp on the station,” he said.
“The station also provided medical, a school, and all the food [was] supplied by the station.
“I can’t remember the dollar figure that they got paid, but it wasn’t much; being clothed and fed was part of it.”
John Mills says cattle station workers and their families had been living at Wave Hill before the walk-off. (Supplied: John Mills)
He said in the years after the walk-off, the station had fewer Indigenous staff — a situation that was mirrored around the Territory.
John Mills says the cattle station was left short-staffed after the walk-off. (Supplied: John Mills)
“After the walk-off, we were fairly short-staffed — we employed more white jackaroos and more fencing went up so we didn’t need as many people,” Mr Mills said.
“The camp was closed down because we couldn’t afford to pay the Aboriginal staff the going wages and keep them as well.
“They got paid what they should, and the older people got their pensions.
“To me, for some people getting that money was their downfall.
“Wave Hill was a dry station, but we had difficulty keeping people there because as soon as they got paid, they went off to Top Springs to buy grog.
“I’m not saying things shouldn’t have changed, but it needed to have been done in a slower, more organised way.”
Hopes for more Indigenous station workers
From 2008, the NT Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA) tried for almost two decades to get more Indigenous people back working on stations through a Pastoral Real Jobs Program that it ran with the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation.
But a few years ago the corporation cut the funding, telling the ABC it had focused its “investment where it delivers the greatest benefit to Indigenous-held land and Indigenous-owned and controlled organisations”.
The NT Cattlemen’s Association runs the Pastoral Real Jobs Program to encourage more Aboriginal people to take up work in the industry. (Suppled: NT Cattlemen’s Association)
NTCA president Romy Carey said the association was hoping to attract funding from the federal or NT governments that would allow it to restart the jobs program.
“We were providing accredited training and pathways for jobs on cattle stations, or if people decided cattle work wasn’t for them, assisting them with a pathway into other work like civil construction,” she said.
“It was very beneficial for the industry because a workforce can be very hard to find and retain in our regional areas, and it was beneficial for our communities who were able to source work close to home and close to country.
“It is a priority for our membership and our directors to identify opportunities for us to have that program funded again.”
The Pastoral Real Jobs Program had been run in conjunction with the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, but funding has since been cut. (Supplied: NT Cattlemen’s Association)
In Kalkarindji, Mr Roy said he was happy to see growing numbers of young people, including his niece, working on their country as rangers, managing weeds, feral animals and conservation.
But he said he wanted the legacy of the Wave Hill Walk-Off to be more young people in work.
“We’re pushing for kids to get a better education, whether they want to run a business or get a job, to benefit themselves, and get a sense of responsibility for looking after the community,” he said.
There’s hopes more young Indigenous people will benefit from programs that encourage education and employment. (Supplied: NT Cattlemen’s Association)
