Yirrkala bark petitions

E70428

The Yirrkala bark petitions are historic 1963 documents created by Yolngu elders on painted bark, recognized as the first traditional Aboriginal artworks used to assert Indigenous land rights in the Australian Parliament.


Statements (44)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Indigenous land rights document
historical document
petition
asserts traditional ownership of land around Yirrkala
associatedWith Yirrkala community
Yolngu land rights movement
country Australia
creator Yolngu elders
culturalSignificance iconic document in Australian legal and political history
symbol of Aboriginal political activism
date 1963
depicts Yolngu clan designs
sacred patterns representing Yolngu law and country
documentedIn records of the Australian Parliament
ethnicGroup Yolngu people
genre Indigenous art
political petition
hasPart painted bark border
typed text petition
hasType bark painting
heritageStatus nationally significant Australian document
influenced public awareness of Yolngu land ownership
subsequent Aboriginal land rights claims
language English
Gumatj
Gälpu
legalStatus parliamentary petition
locationCreated Arnhem Land
Northern Territory
Yirrkala
materialUsed ochre
stringybark
medium bark
movement Australian Indigenous land rights movement
opposes bauxite mining on Yolngu land
presentedTo Australian House of Representatives
Australian Parliament
purpose assert Indigenous land rights
protest against mining leases on Yolngu land
recognizedAs first traditional Aboriginal artworks used to assert land rights in the Australian Parliament
significantEvent early milestone in Australian Indigenous land rights movement
first traditional Aboriginal artworks tabled in the Australian Parliament
subject land rights
mining on Aboriginal land

Referenced by (1)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
National Gallery of Australia
hasNotableWork

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