Driving from Darwin to the settlement of Kalkiringi, you notice one thing. This country is vast.

A good five hours from Katherine along a single lane highway, through scorched scrub, past a thousand termite mounds and beneath a dozen hungry wedge-tailed eagles, Gurindji country clings to the precious tributaries of the Victoria River, including the sacred Wattie Creek.

The Gurindji felt this country – their country for time immemorial – was worth fighting for. By the time white Australia cottoned on to the fact that their struggle was not only against the poor wages, the poor food, and the poor living standards which they were forced to put up with under the rule of the Vestey cattle group, the fight for the land itself was well under way.

Begun in 1966, it was a long struggle which required outside help. Unionists led by Brian Manning and the Aboriginal upstart who became known as something of a ‘stirrer’ across the Territory, Dexter Daniels, as well as the author Frank Hardy, helped organize and feed the Gurindji, who were led in their resistance by Vincent Lingiari – or 'old Vincent' as the Gurindji call him.

In 1975, Gough Whitlam handed back the Gurindji a portion of their land, and control of their own cattle properties. The following year, the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was signed in to existence under the new Liberal government which deposed Whitlam, still the favourite PM of many Gurindji.

But while the 2011 festivities got under way, an outsider who took a stroll through Daguragu - the town built from scratch when the strike got under way - would have been hard pressed not to notice that the big dream of Gurindji independence is showing some signs of wear. Businesses – including the Vincent Bakery – have closed, as has the Daguragu family centre, leaving dilapidated hulks at the side of the streets.

Yet the spirit of the strikers lives in the vocal critics of the Federal Government’s intervention, blamed along with the Territory Government’s neglect of Aboriginal communities for the state of affairs in this remote Indigenous community.

There appears to be much leg work ahead for the Gurindji. But if any group deserves a place in the history books for grabbing hold of their own density in the face of immense injustice, it is surely them.