Subject guides: Aboriginal Studies: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and Events

Selected Books

Edward Koiki Mabo by Noel Loos; Eddie Koiki Mabo; Marcia Langton (Foreword by)
Call Number: Available Print and eBook
ISBN: 0702249793
Publication Date: 2013
Here, largely in his own words, is the incredible story of Edward Koiki Mabo.
Yijarni : true stories from Gurindji country by Charola, E and Meakins, F
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2016
On 23 August 1966, approximately 200 Gurindji stockmen and their families walked off Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory, protesting against poor working conditions and the taking of their land by pastoralists.
Finding the Heart of the Nation: The Journey of the Uluṟu Statement Towards Voice, Treaty and Truth by Mayor, Thomas
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2019
Finding our heart : a story about the Uluru Statement for young Australians by Mayor, Thomas, author.; Douglas, Blak, illustrator.
Call Number: Curriculum General 320.51 135
Publication Date: 2020
The unlikely story of Bennelong and Phillip by Sedunary, Michael
Call Number: Curriculum 994 776
Publication Date: 2016
Black pearls : the Aboriginal and Islander sports hall of fame by Tatz, Colin & Tatz, Paul
Call Number: Curriculum General 796.0899915 15
Publication Date: 2018
The boys from St Francis by Mallett, Ashley
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 1743055803
Publication Date: 2018
Stories of remarkable Aboriginal activists, artists and athletes (including Charles Perkins)
Jandamarra & the Bunuba resistance by Pedersen, Howard and Woorunmurra, Banjo
Publication Date: 2011
The thrilling story of the great warrior, Jandamarra, who turned from police assistant to resistance fighter.
Legends by Sean Gorman
Call Number: Fisher 796.336 58
ISBN: 9780855757786
Publication Date: 2011
A rare glimpse into the wonderful life stories of the best indigenous Austrailian-rules football stars.

Web Resources - People

Indigenous Australia biographies/ ANU
A free web resource, use this to look up notable Aboriginal Australians using this resource.
20 inspiring black women who have changed Australia
NITV
Encyclopedia of women and leadership in 20th Century Australia
Published by the Australian Women's Archives Project, includes Pearl Gibbs and Linda Burney
The Australian Dream
Learn about Adam Goodes’s story on the Reconciliation NSW website
Black and Deadly - NFSA Curated Online Exhibition
Celebrating black women of Australian music!

MABO - NFSA Curated Online Exhibition
His name has become synonymous with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights because he was a key plantiff in the Mabo case.
Footy the La Perouse Way - La Perouse United Football Club
Freely available from the Australian Screen website
David Gulpilil - NFSA Curated Online Exhibition
A Yolngu man from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, he is a dancer, actor, musician and storyteller.
Indigenous Portraits - NFSA Curated Online Exhibition
'Being born Aboriginal was a complete scandal,' how Linda Burney's childhood drives her today
NITV article
Sally Morgan
BlackWords Database
Mervyn Bishop - Photographer
Museums and Galleries of NSW

Keating's Redfern Park Speech

Paul Keating's Redfern speech, 25 years on
"We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers," he said.
SBS NITV Website
The legacy of Paul Keating's Redfern Park speech
City of Sydney

Web Resources - Events

AIATSIS Explore resources about people and events
Use the search box on the AIATSIS website to search for a person or an event

Scootle - Aboriginal events
Scootle is a national digital learning repository which provides Australian teachers with access to more than 20,000 digital learning items, provided by a wide array of contributors and aligned to core areas of the Australian Curriculum.
Walk for Reconciliation/ National Museum Website
In 2000, the Bridge Walk for Reconciliation and similar events that took place around Australia in the weeks following were collectively the biggest demonstration of public support for a cause that has ever taken place in Australia.
Yirrkala petition - classroom resources
National Museum of Australia
Uluru statement from the heart/ Reconciliation NSW
Many of these resources and activities have been developed in consultation with NSW Education Standards

Wave Hill walk off and Vincent Lingiari

"Vincent Lingiari," Prime Minister Gough Whitlam said. "I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people, and I put into your hand this piece of the earth itself as a sign that we restore them to you and your children forever."

Big things grow - State Library NSW
The Gurindji’s struggle sparked a national network of support organisations and became a symbol of the land rights movement.
Wave Hill 50th anniversary: Timeline of the station walk off and Gurindji land handback
ABC News feature
Wave Hill walk off 50 year anniversary
Maritime Union of Australia
Ripples from Wave Hill parts 1 & 2
DVD in Fisher Library
Link to books and articles on the topic
From the Library Catalogue
The history of the Wave Hill walk off in pictures
ACTU video

1965 Freedom Rides

1967 Referendum

Right Wrongs online exhibition/ Australian Broadcasting Commission
On May 27, 1967, Australians voted in a referendum to change how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were referred to in the Constitution.
The 1967 referendum / AIATSIS
The 1967 Referendum sought to change two sections of the Constitution in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 90.77 per cent of Australian voters voted ‘Yes’ to the changes

Say yes : a story of friendship, fairness and a vote for hope by Castles, Jennifer, author.; Seden, Paul, illustrator.
Call Number: Curriculum 323.119915 102
Publication Date: 2017

Stolen Generations

Us taken-away kids
Poetry, stories and artwork commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 'Bringing them home report'. Australian Human Rights Commission
The Stolen Generations
AIATSIS Website
'Bringing them home' - the stolen children report 1997
Australian Human Rights Commission, includes 'Bringing them home' - the stolen children report 1997. Use MENU to navigate

Stolen Generations video
Youtube Video about the history of forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families in Australia. National Museum of Australia

Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Home

Kinchela Boys Home - National Museum of Australia
The remaining half of the old Kinchela Boys Home gate represents one of the most well-known Aboriginal Children’s Homes of New South Wales, at Kempsey on the north coast. ‘This is what kept us in, kept us from our culture. Going through that gate, it was going into hell,’ said former resident Manuel Ebsworth.
Kinchela Boys Home/ NITV
Various resources from NITV (SBS)
Kinchela Boys Home 90th Anniversary Reunion/ NITV
Veterans of the notorious Kinchela Boys Home in New South Wales reunited to mark the 90th Anniversary.
They came together to honour the memory of the 600 Stolen Generation boys who lived at the home from 1924 to 1970.
Kinchela Boys Home - Fisher Library holdings
Items in Fisher library's collection - unikey required to view eBooks and eJournal articles.
TROVE resources for Kinchela Boys Home
National Library of Australia
Stolen Generations video from National Museum of Australia
Youtube Video about the history of forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families in Australia.