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The Yirrkala Bark Petitions (1963) were presented to the Australian House of Representatives, Commonwealth Parliament in August 1963, and are historic Australian documents. The petitions from the Yolngu people of Yirrkala were the first traditional documents recognised by the Commonwealth Parliament, and thus the first documentary recognition of Indigenous people in Australian law. The acceptance of these petitions also marked a bridge between two traditions of law.
During the late 1950s the Yolngu became aware of prospecting activities in the area of the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land, and the subsequent granting of mining leases over a considerable area of Yolngu traditional land. The Yolngu responded by sending a petition framed by painted bark to the Commonwealth Government demanding recognition of their rights. Although the petitioners were unsuccessful in gaining the Commonwealth Parliament’s recognition of rights to their traditional lands on the Gove Peninsula, the documents formed the foundation of the eventual recognition of Indigenous rights in Commonwealth Law.
The idea for the petition was inspired by two visiting politicians, Kim Beazley (Senior) and Gordon Bryant, the first petition dated 14 August 1963, the second dated 28 August 1963, were presented to the House of Representatives in August by the member for the Northern Territory, Mr Jock Nelson. The petitions was signed by twelve Yolngu men and women (aged between 18 to 36), who were members of local clans from both the Dhuwa and Yirritja moieties.
In 1968, a third petition was presented to Parliament, comprising a painted bark panel with text on the reverse side. This petition was painted by Dundiwuy Wanambi, and signed by: Mungurrawuy, Dundiwuy, Birrikitj, Mau, Matjid, Munyu, Nanyin, Wandjuk, Djalingpa, Gawirrin, Mr J.G. Yunupingu, Yinitjin, Mathaman, Djiriny, Guyuyuma, Djayila, and Roy Dadynga Marika.
The Yirrala petitions have played a ‘key part of the persistent claim for constitutional change which achieved the amendment of the Australian Constitution in 1967, the statutory acknowledgment of Aboriginal land rights by the Commonwealth in 1976, and the overturning of the obstacle of the concept of terra nullis by the High Court in the Mabo Case in 1992.'
(Source: AIATSIS; Museum of Australian Democracy website:; Wikipedia; 'Journey Goes Full Circle from Bark Petition to Blue Mud Bay'.)
Further reading:
– Read story by Wali Wunungumma Journey goes full circle from Bark Petition to Blue Mud Bay
– Bark petitions: Indigenous art and reform for the rights of Indigenous Australians
– 2013 National Naidoc Week Theme
– Yirrkala Bark Petitions 1963
– Solomon, David Harris. The People's Palace: Parliament in Modern Australia. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1986.
– Morphy, Howard. Art and Politics: The Bark Petition and the Barunga Statement. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000.
– Towner, Joanne 'Copyright issues relating to Yirrkala 'Bark' petitions'. Table. 69 2001. 26-28.
– Schwarz, Janien and Canberra School of Art Beyond familiar territory: De-centering the Centre : an analysis of visual strategies in the art of Robert Smithson, Alfredo Jaar and the Bark petitions of Yirrkala, 1999.
– Langton, Marcia and Australian Broadcasting Corporation The quiet revolution : Indigenous People and the Resources Boom. Sydney NSW HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 2013.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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y
Yunupingu's Song
Southbank
:
Australian Book Review, Inc.
,
2023
26915805
2023
single work
podcast
'In this week’s ABR Podcast, Desmond Manderson takes us back sixty years to the 1963 Yirrkala Bark Petition drafted by Yolngu leader Yunupingu. The Yirrkala petition called for constitutional recognition of Indigenous rights and can be seen as an antecedent to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Desmond Manderson is Director of the Centre for Law, Arts and Humanities at the Australian National University. Here he is with ‘Yunupingu’s song: Constitutions as acts of vision, not of division’, published in the September issue of ABR.' (Production summary)
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Yunupingu's Song : Constitutions as Acts of Vision, Not of Division
2023
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 457 2023; (p. 24-26)'From the age of fifteen until his recent death at the age of seventy-four, the great Yolngu leader Yunupingu (1948–2023) was at the forefront of the struggle to change the Australian legal system in unprecedented ways. In 1963, with his father, Mungurrawuy, he drafted the Yirrkala Bark Petition, which presented to Parliament an eloquent claim for the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Arnhem Land before their country was, without their consent, turned into a bauxite mine. The Bark Petition was no ordinary document. On the one hand, it uses the antiquated language of a traditional ‘humble petition’ to Parliament, concluding in forms of speech that have hardly changed since the seventeenth century: ‘And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.’' (Introduction)
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Friday Essay: 60 Years Old, the Yirrkala Bark Petitions Are One of Our Founding Documents – So Why Don’t We Know More about Them?
2023
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 11 August 2023; -
Yirrkala Senor Elders Celebrate Bark Petition Anniversary at University's Yarramundi Lecture
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 25 September vol. 12 no. 330 2013; (p. 8) -
Yirrkala Bark Petitions
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"Yolngu people sent 2 bark",
2013
single work
poetry
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 11 September no. 559 2013; (p. 23)
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We Know These Things to Be True : The Third Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture 20 August 1998
1998
single work
prose
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues , December vol. 1 no. 4 1998; (p. 4-17) -
Prints that Started Land Rights Debate Revealed
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: Sydney Morning Herald , 9 July 2013; (p. 6-7) -
Tribute Celebrates Bark Petitions
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11 July 2013; (p. 9) The Age , 11 July 2013; (p. 4) 'Anniversary praise for clan leaders who sent historic message' -
Elder Wants Bark to Have More Bite
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 11 July 2013; (p. 1, 4) -
Thumbprint Petitions Have a Place in History
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 July 2013; (p. 2)
- Yirrkala, Gove Peninsula, East Arnhem Land, Arnhem Land, Top End, Northern Territory,