The **Aboriginal Tent Embassy** is a [protest
camp](Protest_Camp "wikilink") located in Canberra,
[Australia](Australia "wikilink") outside parliament house. Established
in 1972, it has survived for nearly 50 years and continues to advocate
for [Aboriginal Australians](Aboriginal_Australians "wikilink").

## History

In response to the refusal to recognise aboriginal land rights, four
Aboriginal men ([Michael Anderson](Michael_Anderson "wikilink"), [Billy
Craigie](Billy_Craigie "wikilink"), Tony Coorey and Bertie Williams)
arrived in Canberra from Sydney on the 26th of January, 1972 and planted
a beach umbrella on the lawn in front of Parliament House. Soon several
tents emerged and Aboriginal people and non-indigenous supporters came
from all parts of Australia to join the protest. In Feburary the embassy
presented a list of demands to the Australian government:

  - Control of the Northern Territory as a State within the Commonwealth
    of Australia; the parliament in the Northern Territory to be
    predominantly Aboriginal with title and mining rights to all land
    within the Territory.
  - Legal title and mining rights to all other presently existing
    reserve lands and settlements throughout Australia.
  - The preservation of all sacred sites throughout Australia.
  - Legal title and mining rights to areas in and around all Australian
    capital cities.
  - Compensation money for lands not returnable to take the form of a
    down-payment of six billion dollars and an annual percentage of the
    gross national income.

The police deemed the embassy a [squat](Squatting "wikilink") and
evicted it, but three days later, it was retaken and the
[police](police "wikilink") could not retake it. It was destroyed in a
storm in 1974 but quickly rebuilt, and was moved to a house in the
nearby suburb of Red Hill, but abandoned in 1977. It was only in 1992
that it was re-established, it has since been subject to many arson
attacks from unknown figures (likely white supremacists or undercover
police).