Bark petition
On 15 August 1963 the Melbourne Age reported under the headline 'House Hears Plea in Strange Tongue':
The strangest petition yet received by the House of Representatives - written in the aboriginal language on a length of stringy bark - was presented to the House today. It began - 'Bukudjuini gonga yuru napurrunha yirrakilli [...]' Which means - 'The humble petition of the undersigned people of Yirrkala'.
This petition, signed by representatives of the tribal groups who lived on the Gove Peninsula west of Darwin, objected to a large mining venture which the federal government had approved without bothering to consult with the people whose families had lived there for many, many generations.