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About Lingiari The Electorate Warren is the first member of parliament to represent Lingiari. The electorate was formed for the 2001 federal election as a result of the old electorate, Northern Territory, splitting in two (Solomon, which covers the Darwin area, is the other new electorate).
The major industries in Lingiari are tourism, cattle, horticulture, fishing, light industry (in Alice Springs), and bauxite, copper, gold and uranium mining. Vincent Lingiari Lingiari was named in honour of Vincent Lingiari OAM (1908-1988), a member of the Gurindji people from the NT's Victoria River District. He was a stockman and a land rights leader who worked for many years to improve conditions for Aboriginal people working on cattle stations. Mr Lingiari was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to Aboriginal people.
The Wave Hill dispute began after the station's owners refused Mr Lingiari's request that Aboriginal stockmen – who suffered appalling working and living conditions – be paid $25 a week. But it soon became much more, when the Gurindji people demanded the return of their traditional lands. The strike lasted seven years. Over that time, support for Aboriginal rights grew as the struggle intensified. The end result was an enormously important event in our history when, during an emotional ceremony in 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam poured the local sand into Vincent Lingiari's hands and handed the Wave Hill station back to the Gurindji people. Warren devoted his first speech as the member for Lingiari to this great Australian. Electoral history Before 2001, Lingiari was part of the division of Northern Territory. Members for the Division of Northern Teritory have included:
• 1998–2001 W Snowdon
• 1996-1998
N Dondas
• 1987-1996 W Snowdon
• 1984-1987 P Everingham
• 1983-1984 J E Reeves
• 1980-1983 G E J Tambling
• 1966-1980 S E Calder
• 1949-1966 J N Nelson
• 1934-1949 A MacAlister Blair
• 1922-1934 H G Nelson |
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Copyright © 2004-5 Warren Snowdon MP. This page was last updated on 18 June 2007. |
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Lingiari
is the second-largest federal electorate in Australia. It covers 1,347,849
sq km of the Northern Territory and both the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling)
Islands (see the map to the right).
One of the most
significant events in Mr Lingiari's life began on 23 August 1966, when he
led his Gurindji people and others off the Northern Territory's Wave Hill
station to a riverbed nearby. This strike would eventually reshape the
agenda of relationships between indigenous Australians and the wider
community.