The pandemic forcing the cancellation of the annual festival commemorating the Wave Hill Walk Off didn't stop the Kalkarindji community from having their own celebration.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On August 23, 1966, Vincent Lingiari led 200 Gurundji stockmen and their families off the Wave Hill Station in protest of poor conditions and pay.
The strike led to a years-long battle by the Gurundji people to reclaim their land. A portion of Gurindji land was returned to the traditional owners, with Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically puring a handful of dirt into the hands of Vincent Lingiari in August 1975.
The Walk Off is commemorated each year with a cultural festival, known as the Freedom Day Festival, each year in late August in Kalkarindji. However, this year's festival, which was set to kick off on Friday, was cancelled last week because of a COVID outbreak in the Northern Territory.
OTHER NEWS:
However, the local community still celebrated the 55th anniversary of the event .
"Today, to honour the August 23 anniversary of the Wave Hill Walk-off, we had a small, community-only gathering and BBQ down by the river," a Freedom Day spokesperson said via a Facebook post.
"It was colourful and lovely, and everyone - from the kids to the elders - had a great time with family and friends.
"While we're all disappointed that Freedom Day Festival was cancelled this year, it was important for our people to do something small this morning to mark this important day.
The spokesperson said after initially deciding to postpone the festival, it was decided that it would be cancelled for the year.
"Sadly, there'll be no Freedom Day Festival celebrations at all this year. Community leaders have decided the event is fully cancelled (not postponed). We've now packed all our festival gear away until next year," the post read.
"We do hope to see you all in August 2022 for a big one!"
The festival was set to feature a performance by Australian music legend Paul Kelly, whose song 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' written with Kev Carmony, tells the story of the Wave Hill Walkoff and subsequent land rights fight.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark katherinetimes.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @KatherineTimes
- Follow us on Instagram @katherinetimes
- Follow us on Google News
- Contact us at editor.kathtimes@austcommunitymedia.com.au
- You can also receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday at 6am from the Katherine Times. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.
DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?: Send letters to the editor or story tips to editor.kathtimes@austcommunitymedia.com.au
