On Australia Day, January 26th
1972, the Tent Embassy was established in response to the McMahon Coalition
Government’s refusal to recognize Aboriginal land rights.
The people of Redfern were central
to this National struggle for recognition and this is reflected in ‘Ningla-a-Na. Film Fanatics
are therefore organizing a bus from Redfern Community Centre to ensure as many
elders as possible can attend the screening. Jenny Monro ‘the baby of the Tent
Embassy activists’ will be there to share memories and facilitate discussion on
the night and will be joined by filmmaker Fabio Cavadini and others.
Film Fanatics selects
films from the National Film and Sound Archives and this screening is an opportunity to reflect on the Pitjantjatjara
expression ‘ningla-a-na’ which translates as ‘we are hungry for our land’.
Film Fanatics is a community based
initiative working with the Petersham Bowling Club located at 77 Brighton Street
Petersham. Tickets are available at the door. www.thepbc.org.au or email:
innerwestfilmfanatics@yahoo.com.au
http://www.indigenousrights.net.au/document.asp?iID=793
Inner
West Film Fanatics will screen the 16 mm print of NINGLA A-NA, (1972, 72 min) at the
Petersham Bowling Club on Tuesday June 24th at 7.00 p.m.
In 1972 at the peak
of Aboriginal political militancy in Australia, two Italian brothers, Allessandro and
Fabio Cavadini, made a film called ‘Ningla-a-Na’ about the ‘Aboriginal Embassy’
demonstrations in Sydney and Canberra that year.
The ‘Aboriginal Embassy’ demonstrations took the reality of
a dispossessed people right to the front door of Parliament House in Canberra. Aboriginal
activists were able to convey their message to the world as a major television
news item. The appalling, health, housing, education and incarceration rates of
Aborigines were at last in the public domain.
On Australia Day, January 26th 1972, the Tent
Embassy was established in response to the McMahon Coalition Government’s
refusal to recognize Aboriginal land rights.
A new general purpose lease for Aborigines would be
conditional upon their ‘intention and ability to make reasonable economic and
social use of land’ and it would exclude all rights they had to mineral and
forest rights.
The reaction was instant and dramatic as Redfern-based
Aboriginal activists moved quickly to establish a protest camp on the lawns of
Parliament House in Canberra.
Some of the people involved in its establishment
include Gary Foley, Chicka Dixon, Pearl Gibbs and Paul Coe.
Efforts to remove the Tent Embassy were
prevented by a flaw in Canberra
ordinances. It was discovered that there was no actual prohibition on camping
on the Parliamentary lawn. This enabled the activists to establish a permanent
presence on the lawns.
The “Aboriginal Embassy” protest was the most
effective political action in the history of the Aboriginal struggle. Black
marchers were joined for the first time by massive white support as more
information became available about the reality of our colonial past.
The people of Redfern were central to this
National struggle for recognition and this is reflected in ‘Ningla-a-Na. Film Fanatics are
therefore organizing a bus from Redfern Community Centre to ensure as many
elders as possible can attend the screening. Jenny Monro ‘the baby of the Tent
Embassy activists’ will be there to share memories and facilitate discussion on
the night and will be joined by filmmaker Fabio Cavadini and others.
Film Fanatics selects
films from the National Film and Sound Archives and has endeavored to include
films that tell the story of Aboriginal Australia. In the past year ‘Protected’ about the Palm
Island strike provided an opportunity for Lex Watton to visit Sydney and ‘No
Fixed Address’ was introduced by Bart Willoughby one of our very significant
Australian song writers.
The metaphor of the tent Embassy is such that it continues
to exist as the most vital gathering place. In 1995 the site of the Tent
Embassy was added to the Australian Register of the National Estate as the only
Aboriginal site in Australia
that is recognized nationally as a site representing political struggle for all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
On Feb 13th 2008 Aboriginals gathered and camped
on mass to hear the Prime Minister of Australia give an unqualified apology for
the laws and policies that “inflicted profound grief, suffering and
loss”. Children splashed in the
lakes and adults sat and talked amidst an array of signs dominated by one word
‘sovereignty’. It is difficult to
imagine how Australia
can move forward in a proud and integrated way without coming to terms with an
Aboriginal authority integral to having a natural affinity with the land.
It is a significant time to revisit this film ‘Ningla-a-Na’
and the establishment of the Tent Embassy.
We hope as many people as possible will come to acknowledge the Redfern
community and to let their passion and dedication form a through line in
defining how our future unfolds. It is an opportunity to reflect on the
Pitjantjatjara expression ‘ningla-a-na’ which translates as ‘we are hungry for
our land’.
Film Fanatics is a community based
initiative working with the Petersham Bowling Club located at 77 Brighton Street
Petersham. Tickets are available at the door. The bar is open at 6.00 p.m. and
light refreshments will be available for purchase.
www.thepbc.org.au or email:
innerwestfilmfanatics@yahoo.com.au
http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/images/history/1970s/emb72/p3.html
http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/images/history/1970s/emb72/p17.html
http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/images/history/1970s/emb72/p22.html
http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/images/history/1970s/ningla/history.html
http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/images/history/1970s/ningla/pxdx.html