WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following article contains images of deceased persons.
Half a century has passed since Prime Minister Gough Whitlam stood beside Gurindji Elder and stockman Vincent Lingiari and poured the sands of his Country into his palm.
"Vincent Lingiari I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people and I put into your hands part of the earth itself as a sign that this land will be the possession of you and your children forever," Whitlam said on August 16, 1975.
After eight-years of protest, that was the Wave Hill Walk-Off, Whitlam travelled to Wave Hill station, 600 kilometres south of Darwin, to transfer the leasehold title to a segment of Wave Hill cattle station to the Gurindji people.
"Let us live happily together as mates, let us not make it hard for each other . . . We want to live in a better way together, Aboriginals and white men, let us not fight over anything. Let us be mates," said Mr Lingiari.
It was a moment cemented into Australian history, and a pivotal marker in the road toward Aboriginal land rights and self-determination.
"I want to promise you that this act of restitution which we perform today will not stand alone your fight was not for yourselves alone and we are determined that Aboriginal Australians everywhere will be helped by it," said Whitlam.
"I want to promise that, through their Government, the people of Australia will help you in your plans to use this land fruitfully for the Gurindji.
And I want to give back to you formally in Aboriginal and Australian Law ownership of this land of your fathers.
Recognising the 50th anniversary, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said Wave Hill Walk-Off "laid the foundation for Aboriginal land rights" in the Northern Territory and across Australia.
“The formal handover of land to the Gurindji people - and the soil passing from one hand to another - is a defining moment in the Aboriginal land rights movement and Australian history," said Minister for Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also reflected on the "mighty victory".
“Even now, when we hear the word Gurindji we picture the endless blue of the outback sky and the vivid red earth trickling from Gough’s hand into Vincent’s," he said.
“That iconic image stands as an enduring tribute to the courage, determination and solidarity of a proud people."
He believes it a milestone to inspire the "journey ahead."
Vincent Lingiari, addressing the media after Prime Minister Gough Whitlam officially returns Aboriginal land at Wattie Creek. Source: National Museum Australia
What was the Wave Hill Walk-Off?
On August 23, 1966, Mr Lingiari led 200 Gurindji, Mudburra and Warlpiri stockmen, domestic workers and their families off Wave Hill Station in protest of unfair living and working conditions and the return of ancestral Country.
At the time the station was owned and operated by Vesteys, a British pastoral company. The company employed local Aboriginal people but subjected to regular discrimination and were not paid.
The group walked along the fence line to Gordy Creek, setting up camp on the Victoria River near wave Hill Welfare Station. In the wet season they camped on higher ground and in 1967 relocated to Wattle Creek, establishing the community of Darguragu.
In the same year, some travelled Australia bringing attention to their fight, and petitioned the Governor-General for ownership of their Country. Their request was declined.
Some of the 200 protesters who walked off Wave Hill station in 1966.
Darguragu was aquired by the Aboriginal Land Fund Commission and on August 16, 1975, Whitlam transferred the leasehold to Traditional Owners, the Gurindji people.
The legacy of the Wave Hill Walk-Off cannot be understated, directly influencing the creation of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal Land Rights Act which enabled Aboriginal people in the jurisdiction to claim land rights based on their traditional and cultural connection to Country.
Who was Vincent Lingiari?
Mr Lingiari was born in 1919, on Country at Victoria River Gorge. He was named after his father, who was Gurindji - as was his mother.
At 12-years-old, he was working on Vestey's station, eventually becoming a talented stockman.
He was denied a formal education, but was a husband and father to six sons and two daughters.
In 1976, a year after the Gurindji hand back, Mr Lingiari became a Member of the Order of Australia, awarded for his services to Aboriginal peoples.
He passed in January of 1988 at Daguragu and was laid to rest on his Country.
His legacy continues not only in the Wave Hill Walk-Off but in Northern Territory's largest electorate which is named after him, a memorial to him in Reconciliation Place in Canberra and the Lingiari Foundation which, formed in 2001, advocates for reconciliation, Aboriginal leadership and self-determination.
His memory is also honoured at the Freedom Day Festival, annually hosted by the Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation.
Each year, crowds come together remember the Walk-Off and handback.
"The festival is in recognition of a story of national significance, which changed the Australian landscape and history forever," the organisations said.
"Vincent's legacy still lives on today through his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and all the Gurindji people."
This year the festival seeks to recognise the significance of 50years. It will be held from August 22 to 24 at Kalkarindji.
