Cummeragunja walk-off
Date | 4 February 1939 |
---|---|
Location | Cummeragunja Station |
Participants | Jack Patten Bill Onus Eric Onus William Cooper |
The Cummeragunja walk-off in 1939 was a protest by
Background
The Cummeragunja Mission was mostly home to
Protest
On 4 February 1939, when Jack Patten was arrested and removed from the mission after trying to address the local people, as many as 200 residents of the Cummeragunja Mission walked out of the mission and crossed the Murray River, leaving the state of New South Wales. This was in contravention of rules set by the New South Wales Board for the Protection of Aborigines.[2][3][4][5]
Activist Bill Onus put off his potential career as a budding actor to return from Melbourne to his place of birth for the walk-off.[6]
Legacy
Many of the people who left the mission in February 1939 settled in northern
The walk-off was one of the first mass protests by Indigenous Australians, and had significant impact on events that followed later, such the 1967 referendum.[8]
The third episode of the 1981 miniseries, Women of the Sun, is a fictional story based on the walk-off.
In October 2010, the
In 2020, Ross Morgan, a
References
- ^ "Aborigines Neglected – Missioner's Complaint – Churches not Doing Enough". The Mercury. Davies Brothers Ltd. 22 January 1935. p. 7. Retrieved 4 April 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ABC Online. Archived from the originalon 27 May 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ABC Online. Archived from the originalon 15 May 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ^ "New DVD tells story of Shepparton Koori Community". Victorian Department of the Attorney General. 23 April 2008. Archived from the original on 30 October 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- The Argus. 11 March 1939. Retrieved 19 November 2009 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Reich, Hannah (13 August 2021). "Documentary Ablaze reveals civil rights leader Bill Onus might have been the first Aboriginal filmmaker". ABC News. The Screen Show. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ABC Online. Archived from the originalon 1 March 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ^ Dobson, Mahalia (4 February 2019). "Yorta Yorta people return to Cummeragunja 80 years after historical 'walk-off'". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ Short Black Opera Company proudly presents Pecan Summer – World Premiere Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved 10 October 2010)
- AM. ABC Radio National. 18 September 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.; "Pecan Summer Pt 1: Empowering Voices". Message Stick. ABC Television. 15 November 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- Fox Sports. Australia. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.