Aboriginal Land Rights Commemorative Now Available

The Royal Australian Mint has released new coins honoring Aboriginal land rights into circulation. The 50-cent piece commemorates two significant milestones: the 1966 Wave Hill walk-off and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976.

In response to the poor wages and living conditions at Wave Hill station, a cattle farm in Wave Hill, Northern Territory, Australia, Gurindji activist Vincent Lingiari initiated a walk-off and strike on August 23, 1966. The strike eventually transformed into a protest for the return of the land from the Vestey Group to its original inhabitants, the Gurindji people. Composed of 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants, and their families, the strike lasted for seven years. On August 16, 1975, the Vestey Group brokered an agreement with Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to return a section of the land to the Gurindji. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed on December 16, 1976, and has been amended 27 times between 1978 and 2021.

The Aboriginal Land Rights Commemorative

The reverse design features a crowd walking in the foreground with the word UNITY below. In the hills behind the protesters, a hand pours dirt into the palm of another hand. The scene is a reference to the 1975 ceremonial land handover, when Prime Minister Whitlam poured a handful of soil from Gurindji land into Lingiari’s hand. Lingiari’s speech from the ceremony appears in the background. The legend GURINDJI WAVE HILL WALK OFF 1966 • BIRTHPLACE OF ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS ACT 1976 encircles the design.

The 50-cent piece began circulating on Thursday, August 6. A silver proof version of the commemorative (mintage 6,500) is available on the Royal Australian Mint’s online store, with a limit of one per person.