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Portrait of Anthony Martin Fernando
by Raj Nagi
A portrait of an unknown Indigenous Australian activist, Anthony Martin Fernando, who took Aboriginal protest to London in the 1920s. Standing outside London's Australia House in his skeleton-decorated coat, his cry was: 'This is what the Australian government has done to my people'.
As there are no known photographs of Fernando, the artist did not include the whole face in this imagined portrait.
Right: Raj Nagi's portrait of Anthony Martin Fernando. Reprographer: George Serras.
Yirrkala bark petition
One of four 'Yirrkala bark petitions' prepared by the Yolngu Elders in 1963. The petitions called for Indigenous land rights to be recognised and for there to be no mining on Yolngu land.
Two of the petitions were presented to Australia's Commonwealth Parliament. They were the first documents accepted by Parliament which incorporated Indigenous ways of representing relationships to land. This petition was presented to The Honourable Gordon Bryant MP.
Bill Onus' Australian Aborigines League banner
The League was an important Aboriginal protest organisation and this very rare 1940s protest banner reads: 'The voice of the Aborigine must be heard'.
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