1938 Day of Mourning and Protest

Date: 1 July to 22 July 2008
Venue: The Hall, National Museum of Australia

The year 2008 is the 70th anniversary of the 1938 Day of Mourning and Protest.

This Aboriginal-only protest meeting in Sydney was a response by to the 150th anniversary of the arrival of British settlers in Australia.

The Day of Mourning took place at a time when repressive government policies severely limited the movement and rights of Aboriginal people in Australia.

The protest organisers chose Australia Day – January 26 - because of the belief that the celebration of white settlement should also be a time to reflect on the dispossession of Aboriginal people, and a time to think about ways of redressing this.

Many Indigenous activists involved in later civil and land rights movements were inspired by the 1938 Day of Mourning.

The National Museum's 70th anniversary display includes a short film about Aboriginal protests over time, historic images and clippings from Indigenous newspapers.

Sisters Esther (Ingram) Carroll and Olive (Ingram) Campbell are the only surviving members of the group of women and children identified in the famous Day of Mourning photograph (above).