In the nation’s parliament building, in the national museum, and in a private collection are four Bark Petitions (Näku Dhäruk) that tell of the Yolŋu plaintive bid in 1963 to be included in decisions relating to the Australian Government’s proposed exploitation of Yolŋu traditional lands. The petitions were in response to federal government plans to mine bauxite across Yolŋu Country. This meticulously researched book completes Clare Wright’s ‘Democracy’ Trilogy and gives voice to the Indigenous Land Rights movement that emerged – to the government’s consternation – from their own unilateral policy decision. Before critics argue that Indigenous narratives should not be written by White historians, it must be noted that Wright was welcomed into and lived within the Yolŋu community.
In 1963, Paul Hasluck, a minister in the Menzies government, ordered the sequestration of land on the Gove Peninsula in order to mine bauxite – the ore precursor to aluminium. Unsurprisingly, Yolŋu leaders objected. Within the Yirrkala mission, cultural traditions and language were retained. The petitions were written in both English and in Language. After receipt of the petitions, an investigation found that the government’s actions overrode Yolŋu sentiment and traditional land custodianship. The determination was that (obviously) consultation should have occurred.
Wright’s masterful writing – studious but not overbearing – ensures that this is neither dry nor dusty. It explains how elemental the Näku Dhäruk were in the emergence of the Land Rights movement in clear, digestible language.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Professor Clare Wright is an award-winning historian, author, broadcaster and public commentator who has worked in politics, academia and the media. Clare holds a PhD in Australian Studies from the University of Melbourne and an MA in Public History from Monash University and is currently Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement at La Trobe University.
Her latest book Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions (2024) is described as ‘‘An impossibly important book’, that traces the story of a founding document of Australian democracy and the trailblazers who made it. This is the final chapter in Clare’s bestselling ‘Democracy Trilogy’, and follows the land rights movement led by Australia’s first people.
In 2022, Clare was on the National Cultural Policy Expert Advisory Panel and was commissioned to co-write (with Christos Tsiolkis) the Vision Statement for the policy document, Revive. She is Chair of the National Museum of Australia Council.
0 Comments