Larissa Behrendt uncovers the extraordinary story of the three landmark Yirrkala Bark petitions that sparked the flame t | dG1fLUFTd2tEdlJFVDg
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Every Yolngu person knows their stories.
00:12Yirrkala barks reflect reverberations of history.
00:18From the time that Australia was invaded Aboriginal people have asked that our views be listened
00:28to.
00:29This is not just a painting, this is politics.
00:33These are political tools, these are political statements.
00:39When it first came, the mining company, they started to go in and just dig the land without
00:48consulting the Yolngu people.
00:53When Howard was elected Prime Minister of Australia, I felt we were entering a period
00:58of danger.
00:59Wave after wave after wave, they were just destroying us.
01:05Horrible control mechanisms to put Aboriginal people back in their place and that was a
01:12terrible time.
01:13We lost everything.
01:15One thing we forget is how brutal colonisation was.
01:19How brutal it was.
01:20We have to do this for Dad because he's the only one left and, you know, we have to bring
01:34it back home before he passes on.
01:38And there's something different with the bark petitions.
01:41They were designed to be sent away but of this object surfacing sort of seeming to want
01:49to go home.
01:50We need to educate the country on the history of the past and that's the only point where
01:56we can join hands and walk on together.
01:59We're hoping for treaty.
02:03This is the big one, the treaty.
02:04With one mind, one heart, for all nations, Joa and Yirrita.