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of Indigenous Australians in the literary and arts contexts. For the first time stories, histories
and autobiographies by (rather than about) Indigenous Australians were being published;
empowering their own voices rather than continuing their silencing. Prior to this, publications
on Indigenous peoples in areas such as anthropology, culture, history and biographies had
commonly been written as a result of observations by non-Indigenous people on, rather than
with, Indigenous peoples and their cultures. Sample seminal publications from this era
include Douglas Lockwood’s I, the Aboriginal (1962), a book transcribed by Douglas
Lockwood from interviews with Phillip Roberts, also known as Waipuldanya; and Harry
Gordon’s The embarrassing Australian: The story of an Aboriginal warrior (1962), an in
depth biography of WWII and Korean War veteran, Reg Saunders.
There was also a marked increase in acknowledging and supporting Indigenous participation
through the arts. Two high profile examples include Albert Namatjira, an Arrernte Indigenous
man. His water colour paintings of Australian landscapes earned him national and then
international recognition as an artist of note. Namatjira remains one of Australia’s most high
profile artists. The second is Aboriginal actor, Robert Tudawali, who had a nation-wide
profile, not just in the Northern Territory where he resided. The struggle he faced adjusting to
his traditional life after living in non-Indigenous communities in Sydney is well documented.
He is perhaps most well known for his lead role in the first feature film to cast all major roles
with Indigenous actors, Jedda. Incidentally, this film, released in 1955 and directed by
Charles Chauvel, was also the first Australian feature film to be fully shot in colour. Both
Namatjira and Tudawali were included in school curriculum at a minor level during this era
and are expanded on in the analysis section of this chapter.
The following two examples, one leading up the 1967 Referendum and the other leading up
to the creation of the Tent Embassy on 26 January, 1972, demonstrate the multiple
perspectives held in the general community and expressed through for example the press. An
article published in The Spectator leading up to the 1967 referendum discusses social issues
surrounding non-Indigenous understandings of Indigenous Australians. Of particular note, the
author Bruce Silverwood identifies the placement of Aboriginal garden statues in lieu of the
traditional garden gnomes as part of a wider practice of placing Indigenous Australians
within the natural environment—or flora and fauna— detached from mainstream society. Of
this, the author Bruce Silverwood, a noted activist for Indigenous Australian issues
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