Freedom Day: Vincent Lingiari and the Story of the Wave Hill Walk-Off: Vincent Lingiari and the Story of the Wave Hill Walk-Off

(Hardback, First Edition, Hardback)

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When many voices are joined together, with courage, change can happen.

In 1966, more than two hundred courageous Aboriginal people walked off the Wave Hill Cattle Station in the Northern Territory. Led by Vincent Lingiari, these stockmen and their families were walking together to fight forequal pay and landrights.

Exquisitely illustrated and designed, this non-fiction picture book brings a landmark historical event to a new generation.Many people have seen the iconic photograph of Gough Whitlam pouring a handful of red soil into the hands of Vincent Lingiari a symbol of the legal transfer of Gurindji land back to the Gurindji people and recognise this as a key moment in the ongoing land rights movement.Freedom Daydelves into the events that led up to this moment, and makes a rallying cry for the things that still need to change in its wake.ThomasMayorco-authors this book withRosie, Vincent Lingiaris granddaughter, to bring this vital story to life. The story has been written in close consultation with the Lingiari family.

Author Bio

ThomasMayoris a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin. As an Islander growing up on the mainland, he learned to hunt traditional foods with his father and to island danceinthe Darwin community of Torres Strait Islanders. In high school,Thomass English teacher suggested he should become a writer. He didnt think then that he would become one of the first ever Torres Strait Islander authors to have a book published for the general trade.Thomasbecame a wharf labourer from the age of seventeen and a union official for the Maritime Union of Australia in his early thirties.Thomas found his voice on the wharves, gaining the skills of negotiation and organising and applying those skills to advancing the rights ofAboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderpeople.

Thomasis a signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a tireless campaigner for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice, and a Makarrata Commission for truth-telling and agreement-making or treaties. His previous books includeFinding the Heart of a NationandFinding our Heart,along with a book about fatherhood from First Nations perspectives calledDear Son.

Rosie Smiler is a 39-year-old Gurindji woman, a twin with Lisa Smilerand agranddaughter of the great Gurindji leader, Vincent Lingiari. Rosie is a teachers assistant forYears 3 and 4 at the tiny primary school in the Gurindji community of Kalkarindji. Rosie speaks Gurindji, Walpiri and Mudburra Aboriginal languages, as well as Gurindji Kriol and English. She describes herself asminyiti, or shy, though she is also very brave, just like her grandfather was.

Samantha Campbellis an illustrator and graphic designer based in Darwin, Northern Territory.Samantha is descended from the Dagoman people from Katherine, and as a child lived in remote Aboriginal communities across the Top End. Samantha studied graphic design in Melbourne and worked as a freelance graphic designer before illustrating her first children's book,Alfreds War(written by Rachel Bin Salleh).Alfreds Warwas shortlisted for the NSW Premiers Literary Awards and Speech Pathology Australias Book of the Year Awards.Samanthas other books includeBrother Moon, by Maree McCarthy Yoelu, andAuntys Wedding, by Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler.Samantha enjoys illustrating with a range of different mediums in many styles.