Blak History Month: The Aboriginal Tent Embassy:Established 26 January 1972 – A symbol of Sovereignty, Survival and Strength.

On a rainy night in 1972, four young Aboriginal men — Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Tony Coorey and Bertie Williams — pitched a beach umbrella on the lawns opposite Parliament House in Canberra. What began as a peaceful protest quickly became one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of Aboriginal resistance: the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

The embassy was sparked by the McMahon government’s refusal to grant Aboriginal land rights, instead offering a policy of “leases” on traditional lands. This deeply insulting move led these young activists to take radical, visible action. Calling it an “embassy” was no accident — it was a direct challenge to the legitimacy of Australian sovereignty, asserting that Aboriginal people were, and remain, First Nations with their own sovereign rights, never ceded.

Over the decades, the Tent Embassy has been dismantled, relocated, and even set alight — but it has never disappeared. Today, it remains the oldest active protest site in the world, representing the struggle for land justice, treaty, and truth-telling.

For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Tent Embassy is more than a protest. It’s a living, breathing symbol of survival, unity, and refusal to be silenced. It stands for every family affected by the theft of land, the Stolen Generations, Black deaths in custody, and policies of exclusion. And it continues to demand recognition, dignity, and a future grounded in justice.

As we honour NAIDOC Week and Blak History Month, the Embassy reminds us: the fight for justice did not begin — or end — with a referendum or apology. It lives on in the stories, the struggles, and the sovereignty of First Nations peoples across this continent.