Why Is The Wave Hill Walk Off Also Called The Gurindji Strike?

The Wave Hill Walk Off, also referred to as The Gurindji Strike was a strike by approximately 200 Gurindji Aboriginals in August 1966 at Wave Hill cattle station in Kalkarindji, Northern Territory. The Gurindji tribe’s traditional land enveloped approximately 3,250 km² of the Northern Territory. The first Europeans arrived in Gurindji in the 1850s, when explorer Augustus Gregory crossed into their territory. Numerous other early settlers traversed the area over the following years until the 1880s, when large pastoral operations were established. After years of gross neglect, humiliation and distinct unfair conditions provided to the aboriginal workers in comparison to the Anglo-Saxon workers, the walk off commenced in August 1966 as a form of protest. The protest was originally believed to be a strike for equality, with pay to be the same as the white

The first year of the protest, between August 1966 and mid-1967, there was some conversations between Gurindji Aboriginal Tribe workers and Dexter Daniels, the North Australian Workers' Union Aboriginal organiser that led to the initial walk off. The next year the group moved to Wattie Creek, an area of ancestral linkages to the Gurindji people. They asked Frank Hardy to 'make a sign' which included the word 'Gurindji', their own name for themselves. Although most of these stockmen and their families could not read, they understood the power of the white man's signs. Now their name for themselves, written on a sign, asserted a claim to Gurindji lands. A Vincent Lingiari of the Gurindji Walk Off group, stated in 1967 “I bin thinkin' this bin Gurindji country. We bin here longa time before them Vestey mob.” The protest now had meaning, the Gurindji had started to use political visualisation to sway public opinion to gain support for their