SOME SIGNPOSTSFROMDAGURAGU - The Inaugural Lingiari Memorial Lecture - Sir William Deane

Sep 15, 2026

A commemorative lecture text by Sir William Deane presenting the historical narrative of the Wave Hill walk-off led by Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji people, culminating in the return of traditional lands. The foreword explains the strike’s background, the shift from labor conflict to land rights, and the broader national political momentum that followed. It frames the lecture’s value as guidance for “true national reconciliation” through eight signposts drawn from Daguragu’s settlement experience.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages44

Reading Time1 h 51 min

AccessFree to download

Foreword

Wave Hill walk-off and its causes

Daguragu settlement and support movement

The lecture’s purpose: signposts for reconciliation

Acknowledgements

# SOME SIGNPOSTSFROMDAGURAGU The Inaugural Vincent LingiariMemorial Lecture by Sir William Deane,Governor-Generalof the Commonwealth of Australia Northern Territory UniversityAugust 1996 NTLI 323.119915DEAN @The Commonwealth of Australia 1996 ISBN0642258104 This work is copyright.Apart from any use as permitted under theCopyright Act 1968,no part may be reproduced by any processwithout prior written permission from the Australian GovernmentPublishing Service.Requests and enquiries concerning reproductionand rights should be addressed to: The Manager,Commonwealth Information Service,Australian Government Publishing Service,GPO Box 84,CANBERRA ACT 2601 Published by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Designed and typeset by Brave Design Group Pty Ltd,CanberraProduced by the Australian Government Publishing Service CANBERRA MAY 1996 # SOME SIGNPOSTSFROMDAGURAGU The Inaugural Lingiari Lecture Delivered by Sir William DeaneGovernor-General of the Commonwealthof Australia At the invitation of the Councilfor Aboriginal Reconciliation DarwinThursday 22 August 1996 SIR WILLIAM DEANE Sir William Deane was born in Melbourne in 1931.He was educated atSt Christopher’s Convent in Canberra,St Joseph's College in Sydney and SydneyUniversity,where he graduated in Arts and Law.He worked for a period with theCommonwealth Attorney-General’s Department in Canberra before travelling toEurope where he studied international law.After his return to Australia,SirWilliam worked for a period with the Sydney firm of Minter Simpson and Co,and was called to the Bar in 1957.He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1966.Sir William was appointed a judge of the Federal Court and President of theAustralian Trade Practices Tribunal in 1977,and a Justice of the High Court ofAustralia in 1982.He was sworn in as Australia's 22nd Governor-General on 16February 1996.Sir William and Lady Deane were married in 1965.They havetwo children,a son(Patrick)and a daughter(Mary). ● ●●●●●● FOREWORD “From little things big things grow” -Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly,songwriters On 23 August 1966 Vincent Lingiari led members of his Gurindji tribeand other groups off Wave Hill Station,600 kilometres south-west ofKatherine in the Northern Territory,which was owned by the BritishVestey group of companies,to a river bed nearby. Most Australians at the time probably scarcely noticed this seemingly minorthough highly unusual event,if they knew anything about it at all.Yet theripples from the Wave Hill walk-off and strike were to keep travelling out-wards across Australian society,gathering the force of a wave which eventu-ally reshaped the agenda of relationships between indigenous Australiansand the wider society. The immediate catalyst for the strike was the refusal of Vestey's Managerat Wave Hill to meet Vincent Lingiari's request that Aboriginal stockmenbe paid $25 a week.But what was apparently an industrial dispute overappalling working and living conditions soon revealed itself as a demandby the Gurindji people for the return of their traditional lands. Months after the original strike began,Vincent Lingiari led his people toestablish a settlement at Wattie Creek,known to them as Daguragu,withinthe Wave Hill lease.When Lord Vestey attempted to get the Gurindji toleave Wattie Creek and return to work on the station,with inducementsincluding money wages,Vincent Lingiari told him:“You can keep yourgold,we just want our land back." The strike lasted seven years,and over that time a significant movementof political and practical support built up across Australia,linking in withthe early beginnings of the renewed Aboriginal rights movements of the latesixties and early seventies.Finally,in 1975 the then Prime Minister,GoughWhitlam,handed back to the Gurindji people the rights to some of their tra-ditional lands. In early 1996,the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation decided tomark the 30th anniversary of the Wave Hill walk-off by

FAQs

What event does the lecture address as its starting point?

It traces the Wave Hill walk-off, led by Vincent Lingiari and Gurindji people, beginning in August 1966 and extending through the years until traditional land rights were returned.

How did the strike develop beyond an industrial dispute?

What began with refusal to meet demands for pay and living conditions became a Gurindji demand for the return of traditional lands.

What is the lecture’s central purpose regarding reconciliation?

The lecture draws on the settlement at Daguragu and identifies “signposts” that provide principles for a broader discussion of true national reconciliation.

Sep 15, 2026

Upload by River Wang