The Wiradjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, and many still use knowledge of hunting and gathering techniques as part of their customary life.
Wellington is a city in the Central Western Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, located at the junction of the Wambuul Macquarie and Bell Rivers. It is within the local government area of Dubbo Regional Council. The city is 362 kilometres (225 mi) northwest of Sydney on the Mitchell Highway and Main Western Railway, and 50 km southeast of Dubbo, the main centre of the Central Western Slopes region.
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a permanent protest occupation site as a focus for representing the political rights of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. Established on 26 January 1972, and celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022, it is the longest continuous protest for Indigenous land rights in the world.
Gary Edward Foley is an Aboriginal Australian activist of the Gumbainggir people, academic, writer and actor. He is best known for his role in establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972 and for establishing an Aboriginal Legal Service in Redfern in the 1970s. He also co-wrote and acted in the first Indigenous Australian stage production, Basically Black.
Anthony William Mundine OAM is an Australian former boxer, and one of the country's most accomplished indigenous fighters. The only Australian boxer to compete professionally in four weight divisions, he held the Australian middleweight, light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight titles, as well as the Commonwealth middleweight and light heavyweight titles. He also challenged once for the WBA world middleweight title in 1974. He is the father of former world champion boxer Anthony Mundine, and cousin of Warren Mundine.
Lake Cowal is the largest inland lake in New South Wales, Australia. The lake is ephemeral, being fed by the small Bland Creek and by the occasional flooding of the Lachlan River. Despite this, it retains a considerable amount of water in about 70% of years.
John Newfong is an Aboriginal Australian journalist and writer. A descendant of the Ngugi people of Moreton Bay, he was the first Aboriginal person to be employed as a journalist in the mainstream print media in Australia.
Coleen Shirley Perry Smith AM MBE, better known as Mum Shirl, was a prominent Wiradjuri woman, social worker and humanitarian activist committed to justice and welfare of Aboriginal Australians. She was a founding member of the Aboriginal Legal Service, the Aboriginal Medical Service, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Aboriginal Children's Services, and the Aboriginal Housing Company in Redfern, a suburb of Sydney. During her lifetime she was recognised as an Australian National Living Treasure.
Kevin John Gilbert was an Aboriginal Australian author, activist, artist, poet, playwright and printmaker. A Wiradjuri man, Gilbert was born on the banks of the Lachlan River in New South Wales. Gilbert was the first Aboriginal playwright and printmaker. He was an active human rights defender and was involved in the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972 as well as various protests to advocate for Aboriginal Australian sovereignty.
Paul Coe, a Wiradjuri man born at Erambie Mission in Cowra, is an Australian Aboriginal activist. He is known for his advocacy of Aboriginal rights, with involvement in the publicity drive for the 1967 referendum, and the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972.
Kevin Buzzacott, often referred to as Uncle Kev as an Aboriginal elder, is an Indigenous Australian from the Arabunna nation in northern South Australia. He has campaigned widely for cultural recognition, justice and land rights for Aboriginal people, and has initiated and led numerous campaigns including against uranium mining at Olympic Dam, South Australia on Kokatha land, and the exploitation of the water from the Great Artesian Basin.
Gaele Sobott, also known as Gaele Sobott-Mogwe, is an Australian author of poetry, short stories, non-fiction and children's books.
The Ngambri are an Aboriginal people of the Walgalu nation who claim traditional ownership of the Australian Capital Territory area. Their traditional language is Walgulu (Guumaal). They are represented by the Ngambri Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Harry "Buck" Williams and Wilga Munro, known as Harry and Wilga Williams, were Aboriginal Australian musicians who performed professionally between the 1960s and 1980s, playing Aboriginal country music. They formed the band the Country Outcasts, also known as Harry Williams and the Country Outcasts.
Bradley Arthur Hore is an Indigenous Australian male boxer who represented his country and his peoples as a 2 x Olympic & Commonwealth Games athlete. Hore turned pro on 27 July 2012 and competed as a professional in the Super Bantamweight and Super Flyweight divisions. He holds the WBF Superfly Title, WBU Australasian Superfly title and is a Queensland Bantamweight Champion. Hore, retired from his professional boxing career in 2016 after starting the charity "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" which raises awareness against drug & alcohol induced violence.
Matilda Williams House was born in 1945 on the Erambie Aboriginal Reserve at Cowra, New South Wales (NSW), and raised in her grandfather’s house at Hollywood Aboriginal Reserve in Yass, NSW. When she was 12, House spent a year in Parramatta Girls' Home. House was one of ten children.
Jenny Munro is an Australian Wiradjuri elder and a prominent activist for the rights of Indigenous Australians. She has been at the forefront of the fight for Aboriginal housing at The Block in Sydney, and started the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy. She is the sister of activists Isabel Coe and Paul Coe.
The Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy was a protest camp run by Aboriginal Australians in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern. Its aim is to keep an area of land known as The Block in Aboriginal hands, and to ensure the land is used solely for low-cost housing for Aboriginal people. It was started by Aboriginal elder, Jenny Munro, and was named after the original Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.
Isabel Edie Coe (1951–2012) was a Wiradjuri woman born at Erambie Mission near Cowra, and one of the most prominent Australian Aboriginal leaders.
Ray Jackson was an Australian Aboriginal activist and Wiradjuri elder. He was President of the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA), and a prominent campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians.
