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Barunga Statement

In 1988 at the Barunga Festival, an annual community sporting and cultural event, the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, who was attending the Festival, was presented with two paintings and text calling for Indigenous rights. This has become known as the Barunga Statement. In his speech Bob Hawke said there would be a treaty within the life of the current Parliament.

Barunga Statement

In the 1870's pastoralists and telegraph line construction crews followed the explorers; tin mining began in 1913 and continued until 1946. The Darwin – Mataranka railway was completed in 1928. During the war Katherine became a major army base, and many people moved in from all over the NT to work as labourers or drovers. After the war a ration station opened at Maranboy, but water shortages forced its removal first to the King River, and then east to Tandangal in 1948. The people were reluctant to settle at Tandangal because it was a sacred site, and so in 1951 the station was relocated again, on the Beswick Creek, an area rich in rock art. The settlement, known as Beswick Creek, was renamed Bamyili in 1965 and Barunga in 1984.

The people won freehold title to the 100ha former government station which is managed by Bamyili Community Council Inc. The community hosts the annual Barunga cultural and sporting festival. A statement of national Aboriginal political objectives issued to the federal government in June 1988 became known as the ‘Barunga Statement’. Written on bark and presented to Prime Minister RJL Hawke at that year’s festival, it called for Aboriginal self-management, a national system of land rights, compensation for loss of lands, respect for Aboriginal identity, an end to discrimination, and the granting of full civil, economic, social and cultural rights. The Prime Minister responded by saying that he wished to conclude a treaty between Aboriginal and other Australians by 1990, but his wish was not fulfilled.

- Text by Dr Ian Howie-Willis from the Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia

 

Selected references to the Barunga Statement in the AIATSIS Library:

Title
  

Barunga Festival
Source
  

Land Rights News, 1988; v. 2 no. 9, p. 22-27 -ill., ports.

General Note
  

Contents; The man behind the Barunga Festival/Robert Lee-Barunga; the first steps - why a treaty/Galarruwuy Yunupingu - The Barunga statement - Our culture and law - a reality held dear/Pat Dodson.

Annotation
  

Covers addresses given; festival organisation; activities; Barunga Statement; Treaty issue
AIATSIS Call Number
  

SF 26.8/1

 
Title
  

Barunga Festival revisits Treaty
Source
  

ATSIC NT News, December 2001, p. 16, ills., port.

Annotation
  

Bob Hawke returned to the Barunga Festival this year, where in 1988 he had been presented with the Barunga Statement and two paintings and had supported a treaty; Geoff Clark also attended this year's sporting and cultural event and spoke about a treaty

AIATSIS Call Number
  

SF 25.7/14

 
Author
  

Bell, Diane, 1943-
Title
  

The battle for hearts and minds : shifting the terms of the debate
Source
  

Law and Anthropology - no. 5 (1990), p. [185]-200
General Note
  

Includes the Barunga Statement

Annotation
  

Politics, rhetoric and actions of state, political, economic and Aboriginal interests surrounding the Bicentennial celebrations, 1988; Aboriginal policy under the Labor Government, 1983-1988; political background to national land rights, creation of ATSIC, and promise of a treaty by 1990; Aboriginal protest; reflections on the role of the state

AIATSIS Call Number
  

p BEL
 
Author
  

Crawford, James, 1948-

Title
  

The Aboriginal legal heritage : Aboriginal public law and the treaty proposal
Source
  

Australian Law Journal, Vol. 63, (1989), p. 392-403

Annotation
  

Non-recognition of Aboriginal law, application of English law; sovereignty; treaty proposals, Barunga statement

AIATSIS Call Number
  

p CRA
 
Title
  

Make it right! [video recording]

Publication Info
  

Canberra, ACT : Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Northern Land Council, Central Land Council, c1988.
Physical Description
  

1 videocassette (VHS) (22 min.) : 1/2in., sd., col. ; 21 cm.

General Notes
  

"A film by Kim McKenzie". Container carries copy of The Barunga Statement.

Credits
  

McKenzie, Kim; Rubuntja, Wenten; Yunupingu, Galarrwuy; Dodson, Patrick, 1947-.;Ah Kit, John; Hand, Gerry; Hawke, Bob, 1929-

Credits corporate
  

Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies; Northern Land Council (Australia); Central Land Council (Australia)

AIATSIS Call Number
  

KIT M156.76/M1
 
Author
  

Nettheim, Garth
Added Author
  

Simpson, Tony

Title
  

Aboriginal peoples and treaties / Garth Nettheim, Tony Simpson
Source
  

Source: Current Affairs Bulletin, Vol. 65, no. 12 (May 1989), p. 18-23, ill.

General Note
  

Includes bibliographic references; Photocopy

Annotation
  

Legal basis for an Aboriginal Treaty; Makarrata; formation of the Aboriginal Treaty Committee; theory of terra nullius; Barunga Statement, 12 June 1988

AIATSIS Call Number
  

p NET