Truly a beacon for contemporary Indigenous activism in Australia.
The Tent Embassy celebrated its 50th continuous year of occupation. An achievement that demonstrates the tenacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and our continued fight for the reclamation of our lands and sovereign rights as First Nations peoples.
Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, Ghillar Michael Anderson and Tony Coorey instituted what has become the longest running continuous protest for Indigenous land rights in history. Nowhere else in the world have we seen such longevity around a site of protest.
It was named an embassy to bring attention to the fact that sovereignty over the land has never been ceded, and there has never been a treaty with the Crown. Soon tents were erected at the site of the Embassy and Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists arrived to offer their support.
The Embassy was dismantled and/or moved, often violently, many times over the decades until its permanent return to the original site in 1992.
