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https://theconversation.com/in-1951-corroboree-dancers-in-darwin-went-on-strike-their-actions-would-reverberate-as-far-as-melbourne-208023>
"“No Fred – No Lawrence – No Corroboree” ran the February 16 1951 headline in
the Darwin newspaper
The Northern Standard.
Performers from Northern Territory’s Daly region and Tiwi Islands unanimously
agreed to withhold their planned public dance show in solidarity with
Aboriginal workers’ rolling strikes in Darwin for equal pay and civil rights.
In the weeks before, the strike leaders, Wadjiginy man Lawrence Wurrpen (Urban)
and Larrakia man Fred Nadpur Waters, had been detained under the Aboriginals
Ordinance Act of 1918 – laws that did not apply to non-Aboriginal people.
From thousands of kilometres away there was further support for the Darwin
strike leaders. In Sydney, New Theatre members supported the Darwin strikers
by leafleting performances of the ballet Corroboree. In Victoria, members of
the Australian Aborigines’ League condemned the “intimidation of the Northern
Territory Aborigines” in a protest letter sent to Prime Minister Robert
Menzies.
Our new article in
The Australian Journal of Politics and History shows how
Aboriginal people in 1951 framed cultural practice as labour and as a tool for
advocacy for Aboriginal rights stretching across the continent."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
