The central issue in the struggle for civil rights is undoubtedly landrights...unless we get landrights back to the people, we cannot go in any direction. We are in limbo until they settle this issue and it must be settled so the Aborigines can develop a policy of self determination.

The Aborigines want to live outside the main—stream of Australian society. ... They want to emerge and to live according to their own ideals and ideas with the maintenance of the tribal system, and all that goes with it.

The main enemies in establishing self-determination are the government which is so short sighted it is not funny and the apathy of the public. We are in a racist country... to most Australians we are no more than a nuisance. In the countryside they would like to put us on an island out of their way. They do not even think of the land as ever having belonged to the Aborigine. And the big miners, the Beef Barons and other industry. But the 5th generation Aussie no longer owns the land either. He is also governed from outside the country. Whats stolen once will be stolen again. It has got so bad that a group of people have now got together and formed Australian Heritage a Company to buy Australias land, to keep ownership in Aussie. I serve on the board of directors, along with John Grey Gorton and others. It was formed to try and prevent the land-grab.

The main causes of the most classic examples of discrimination, were the beef barons. In the olden days the white man came in and took a land block... that also entitled him to the tribesmen living on that land... he could and did enslave them to work the land. People like the Vestey Bros. who have been in the country for 50 years, that is how they got rich.. they own 40,000 square miles and they pay the Federal Govt 50cents a year per square mile.

Recently legislation has come in that provides for the equal pay of Aboriginal stockmen. That happened about two years ago and now the Gurinje people pulled the young stockmen together and they are standing by them and demanding equal pay. They demand a guarantee in writing.

Blacks Under Control

It now appears as if the whites of the U.S., S.A. and other parts of the world are coming to Australia because there the black man knows his place. They are dead scared of the blackman in their own country and they come to a country where they think the blackman will always be under control. But I doubt that they are right for in the next ten years there will be a drastic change, for the students are now working with and standing in with us in our fight. The Aborigine will be a force to be reckoned with. Most of the work of the Panthers has been done in the cities and with the urban Black. But we are getting contacts with the nomadic and the semi nomadic people we pass it on to our contact and he tells the others, the aborigine has a very retentive mind and there is also the aboriginal telegraph... the bush telegraph and I'll back it against anything they have in the P.M.G. in any country. You can bet that if I speak in Brisbane then within three days the gulf of Carpentaria will know what I said, word for word. But anyone who speaks English is almost regarded as an agent of the white man. This will take a while to get over, but it will come. The young must also have a negotiator and to speak over their elders is a disrespectful thing to do. The Panthers need an older negotiator to work with them, to speak for them. I speak for them sometimes but they do not even accept me as a radical. To them I am a conservative and far to kind to the white man. It must be admitted that my generation has not achieved that much.

I dont trust the white politician even though I work to influence them, I don't believe on turning your back on the whiteman. To do that is to behave as the 5th generation Aussie... He turns his back on us and thinks that we will go away. We won't. We must come to an arrangement. The young people say no bargains no compromise. They want unconditional land rights, back to the people with as much land as we need to live an independent life.

200 Years Rent

If we were given enough money — we are asking for 200 years rent for the land stolen — the urban aborigine would probably leave the cities. Given land rights there would be no urban aborigine. We are looking for a separate society within the main Australian society. The white man's education is of no use to us at all. We don't need the sciences it would be of no use to us in our own way fo life. The education we need to fight the political battle ahead can best be given to us by the students who now stand with us. However at present we do not pose a threat. In 5 years time perhaps we will and then the govt, will move to chop those who stand with us as well. With regard to the Queensland laws they are sending out screeds of material exposing the Act and asking the public whether they would like the govt. to have such powers over them. The public cant believe that these laws exist. But the Australian is a racist and the immigrants are running from their own black people and coming to Australia where the black is well behaved. They think that here we will remain under control.

The Panthers feel that the only good white man is a dead one. That makes them as racist as the white, but perhaps I am too optimistic. They may say this only to frighten them. I dont know. However I believe that we must get the best together so the people of the world can live together. However the Panthers say the white man cannot be trusted. They can cite many examples of lies and cheating. They say that he is a greedy man and that he is a violent man and they are correct, but we are stuck with him, he won't go away. I feel page 13 that before you bring on a revolution you must know what you are going to do after the revolution. We are only 1 percent of the population, I feel that the Panthers may be committing suicide, our job is to stay alive.

Church Control

What the Moanjim people outside of Derby have done is to turn their backs on the white man and are living their own life. But they are still under the ultimate control of the Presbytarian church. That church has tried to give these people their land back but the Govt. is placing obstacles in their way, the church runs foul of the govt. in this area. They are determined to hand the land back but the law is built in such a way that they must negotiate with the govt. before they can. However they do run their own lives and they do have self determination. There is about 200 people and they show our flag, the blood and the black. They are allowed to hunt their own food and they are the healthiest people I have seen. They make their own minds up and the church takes it. It is important the factory manager is a payed servant of my people. We do not stand in the way of progress as long as we control our own destiny. If we discovered minerals on our land then we would find it easier to control our own destinies. We do not stand in the way of progress.

We want to chuck out the white man's liquor, and another law would be set up... keep away from our women and they mean it. They would put in schools and hold the right to hire and fire. They would fight intermarriage but not forbid it. If this happened the white would have the choice to become an honorary aborigine (god help the word). On the main the Aborigine is not a racist.

"I would like to see a conference between all the indigenous people of the Pacific. We all face common problems and a common enemy and we could produce a very solid charter of rights for the indigenous people of the Pacific.

If the church groups are not prepared to finance such a venture I am prepared to go to Russia or China for backing, perhaps not Russia, but certainly China........ they'll back us."