Whitlam Hands Soil to Gurindji: Land Rights Landmark
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam poured soil into the hands of Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari, symbolically returning land that the Gurindji people had walked off cattle stations to reclaim eight years earlier. The ceremony transformed a labor dispute into a watershed moment for Indigenous land rights in Australia, directly inspiring the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976.
August 16, 1975
51 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 16
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