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As already broached, the perspective presented throughout this narrative is one of partnership
between Indigenous groups in remote communities and Indigenous and non-Indigenous
groups in large cities and organisations; articulated non-overtly through language use such as
“began helping”; “ ‘The Gurindji Campaign’, commenced in Sydney on National Aborigines
Day, 10 July 1970”; “demonstrators marched…40 people…were arrested”; and “Gurindji
leaders travelled to Sydney and Melbourne to rally support” (Stewart, 1986, p. 202).
Ultimate success of the strike is communicated to students through a primary source
document in the form of a commemorative plaque (see Source 7.47).
Source 7.47. Commemorative plaque as a primary source document in Case studies
in Australian history (Stewart, 1986, p. 202).
Although the strike is considered ultimately successful as the Gurindji people were granted a
pastoral lease on part of their traditional land, there is no mention of the wages claim, and the
subsequent unemployment of stockmen on Territory stations. Whilst a discourse of hope
within the narrative is communicated to students; by only presenting a type of celebratory
history, there is a very real risk that students are not exposed to an accurate representation of
the end result of this strike. It can therefore be asserted, without being overly pessimistic, that
the gaps and silences presented in this case study are as significant as the content that is
included. In short, this historical event does not end with a commemorative plaque, but rather
has continued since the 1970s with generational unemployment, only recently (in 2009) being
redressed through the re-employment of Indigenous stockmen on remote Northern Territory
properties.
7.10 Category 7: Indigenous knowledges
Living history (Gurry, 1987) presents as a resistant text to the general representations of
Indigenous Australians during this era, in particular for the way it examines the complexities
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