Clare Wright’s Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions – subtitled “how the people of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian democracy” – tells a story that is already well known.
In August 1963, Yolngu living at the Yirrkala Methodist Mission in Arnhem Land submitted two petitions to the Australian Parliament. Each combined paintings on bark with typed text, in both English and Gumatj. The painted images symbolised the petitioners’ ownership under customary law of certain lands, close to the mission, which were threatened by the Menzies government when it excised a portion, rich in bauxite, from the Arnhem Land Reserve.
The petitions asked parliament to appoint a committee to “hear the views of the Yirrkala people before permitting the excision of the land”. Some members had doubts whether the petition represented the community’s views, so Yolngu sent a second petition.
