Blak History Month 🎙The Bark Petitions (1963): When the Elders Took the Fight to Parliament.

In 1963, on the red earth of northeast Arnhem Land, the Yolŋu people of Yirrkala made history — not just for their own rights, but for the future of Aboriginal land justice in this country.

When the Australian Government granted mining leases on Yolŋu land without consultation or consent, Elders responded in a way that honoured their culture and challenged colonial law. They drafted two petitions — written in both Yolŋu Matha and English — and painted them on bark, framed by sacred clan designs.

These weren’t just political documents. They were acts of cultural diplomacy — asserting land rights through the very medium that carried law, story, and sovereignty for thousands of years.

The Bark Petitions were presented to the Australian Parliament in August 1963. It was the first time in history that a federal government formally received an Aboriginal petition. Though the mining continued, the petitions laid the foundation for future legal battles — including the landmark Gove Land Rights Case (1971) and the eventual passage of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1976).

The Bark Petitions stand as a powerful symbol of resistance, innovation, and pride — where law met lore, and culture stood tall against dispossession.

They now hang in the halls of Parliament House in Canberra — a reminder that First Nations voices have always demanded to be heard.