blak armband

............................................................ A spirit of mourning has been an important feature in the politics of Aboriginal resistance in twentieth century Australia, most notably at times of national celebration for White Australians. At the one hundred and fifty year celebrations in 1938, members of the Aboriginal Progressive Association wore formal black dress when they met at Sydney Town Hall on January 26 to declare Australia Day a day of mourning. In their petition to King George VI, they stated: To the Aborigines who are proud of their heritage it is indeed a day of mourning; we mourn the death of the many thousands of Aborigines who were brutally murdered; we mourn the loss of our land and the rape of our women by the white invaders.On the bicentenary of Captain James Cook's landing at Kurnell on April 29 1970, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, led by the poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker ), marked the occasion as a day of mourning. 'We intend a silent, dignified vigil of protest', said Oodgeroo. 'Those who cannot afford to wear black clothes will be asked to wear black armbands or bows'.In Hobart, on the day of the bicentenary celebrations, students wearing black armbands demonstrated against the Tasmanian government's refusal to grant Truganini's last wish to be buried at sea.In Melbourne, more than 150 people marched from Captain Cook's Cottage in the Treasury gardens denouncing Cook as an invader and calling for Aboriginal land rights.In Sydney and Canberra the wearing of black dress and black armbands was a common feature of vigils and protests. In the words of Oodgeroo Noonuccal, the wearing of black dress symbolised both the genocide committed against Aboriginal people since the white man arrived and the present plight of Indigenous Australians.In the years immediately preceding the Bicentenary, Aboriginal protesters and white sympathisers continued to employ the phrase 'black armband' to describe the post-1788 history of Aboriginal Australia.In 1986, a poster designed by the Treaty 88 committee in Alice Springs, called on Australians to 'wear a Black Armband' for the 'Aboriginal year of mourning'. In Canberra, on the following Australia Day in 1987, 200 Aboriginal people and supporters gathered in front of the Australian War Memorial to mourn 'invasion day'. The Canberra Times reported that 'many in the crowd wore black armbands'. At noon, wreaths were laid on a stone inscribed with the words 'Their names shall live forevermore' and 'two minutes silence commemorated the Aborigines who died since white settlement'.On Australia Day 1988, this same language of protest was incorporated into the Aboriginal demonstration against the bicentennial celebration. Again, protesters wore black armbands and marched under 'Invasion Day' banners.