Indigenous Australians have lived in Australia for over 50,000 years but now only make up around 2-5% of the population. Their life expectancy remains lower than non-Indigenous Australians. From 1788 when the First Fleet arrived to 1901, the Indigenous population declined dramatically from around 1 million to 100,000 people. Key dates and issues in the struggle for Indigenous land rights, reconciliation efforts, and recognition have occurred since the 1930s. ANTaR ( Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation) campaigned using multiple strategies within Australia and internationally to build a peoples' movement for reconciliation centered around the Sea of Hands art installation and Citizens Statement petition. Lessons from this movement are that civil society can inspire state action,

2. Indigenous Australia
Aboriginal peoples have lived on the
Australian continent for over 50,000 years.
Today they make up 2% of the population-
officially - although the number is probably
closer to 5%.
Life expectancy remains 17 years less than
non-Indigenous Australians

3. Some Key Dates and Issues
1788
The First Fleet arrived in Sydney
There were around 300 Indigenous clans
and language groups and just under 1 million
people living in Australia.
By 1901 this population had been reduced to
100,000

4. Key Dates and Issues
• 1938 - Struggle for Land Rights
• 1967 - Referendum
• 1980's - Deaths in Custody Royal
Commission
• 1988 – National Reconciliation Council
• 1992 - The Redfern Speech
• 1990 and 1997 - Native Title Rights
• 1998 Stolen Generations Report

5. Key Dates and Issues
• 1998 - Reconciliation Convention and
Patrick Dodson's call for a peoples'
movement to emerge
• 2008 - Apology to the Stolen Generations
• 2011-12 – Constitutional Recognition
Process

6. The ANTaR Campaign
A Peoples Movement

7. The Peoples Movement for
Reconciliation
Multiple strategies
Australia
Regionally
Internationally

8. • ANTaR worked in partnership with
National Indigenous Working Group
• Australian Citizens Statement
• Coalition building around the nation
• Sea of Hands
• Sorry Books
• Bridge Marches
• Olympics
• Lobbying and Media

9. • International networks
• UN
• NGO's
• Lets Talk/80:20 (Olga's 5 Principles)
• South Pacific Forum
• UN Conventions
• Sea of Hands UK, Durban Racism Conference,
• Media
• Indigenous Leaders

10. Principles of Reconciliation
• Acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples
as First Peoples of Australia
• Recognition of the unique rights of
Indigenous people flowing from that
recognition
• A commitment to social justice that is both
formal and substantive
• Negotiations in good faith
• A fundamental change in power relations

11. About the Sea of Hands
The first Sea of Hands was held on the 12 October
1997, in front of Parliament House, Canberra. It was
created as a powerful, physical representation of the
Citizen’s Statement on Native Title.
The Citizen’s Statement was a petition circulated by
ANTaR to mobilise non-Indigenous support for
native title and reconciliation. Plastic hands in the
colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
flags, each one carrying one signature from the
Citizen’s Statement, were installed in front of
Parliament House in what was then the largest public
art installation in Australia.

12. The Sea of Hands has become a symbol of the People’s
Movement for Reconciliation. Over 300,000 Australians
have signed their names on one of 120,000 plastic hands
that make up the Sea of Hands, to show their support for
Native Title and Reconciliation.
The Sea of Hands has been installed in every major city
and many regional locations throughout Australia and
internationally, and continues to gather signatures
everywhere it appears.
Today, the hands symbolise community support for
reconciliation, rights and respect, particularly with
regards to the need for Constitutional Recognition of
Indigenous Peoples.

20. Strategies of Development Oriented NGO’s – Four Generations
First Generation Second Generation Third Generation Fourth Generation
Relief and Welfare Community Sustainable Systems People’s Movements
Development Development
Problem Shortage Local Inertia Institutional and Inadequate
Definition Policy Constraints Mobilising Vision
Time frame Immediate Project Life Ten to Twenty Years Indefinite Future
Scope Individual or Neighbourhood or Region or Nation National or Global
Family Village
Chief Actors NGO NGO plus All Relevant Public Loosely Defined
Community and Private Networks of People &
Institutions Organisations
NGO Role Doer Mobilizer Catalyst Activist / Educator
Management Logistics Project Strategic Coalescing and
Orientation Management Management Management Energising Self-
Managing Networks
Development Starving Community Self- Constraining Policies Spaceship Earth
Education Children Help and Institutions

25. Lessons and Observations
• The lessons of history – 50,000 years you
probably got something right
• Multiple strategies are essential:
Political advocacy; education; media;
new technology; ; coalition building;
strategic campaigning

26. Lessons and Observations
• Civil society can inspire state action but is
not limited by it
• Don't wait for Govt to act
• International Human Rights structures
provide civil society with leverage for
change. Geneva very important

27. Lessons and Observations
• Change happens when loose and shifting
coalitions come together to take action
around shared values and aspirations -
through peoples movements
• To be effective activism requires skills
Think and Act Locally and Globally
Keep media on tap not on top

28. Lessons and Observations
• Make the connections, see the links –
don't become issue focused but human
rights and change focused movement
• Change happens. The evidence is in – the
womens movement, the peace movement,
anti-nuclear movement, anti-apartheid
movement.