Aboriginal Tent Embassy

Aboriginal Tent Embassy
Indigenous land rights in Australia Part of History of Indigenous Australians
From top: Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, Ghillar Michael Anderson and Tony Coorey, first day of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, January 1972; Police question protesters, January 1972, Bobbi Sykes and Gordon Briscoe, July 1972; January 2015; Australia Day 2010
Date	26/27 January 1972
Location	Canberra, Australia 35°18′04″S 149°07′48″E / 35.30111°S 149.13000°E / -35.30111; 149.13000
Caused by	Dispossession of Indigenous Australians
Goals	Land rights, self-determination and reassertion of Indigenous sovereignty
Methods	Nonviolent resistance, civil disobedience, peaceful protest
Status	Ongoing
Parties
Indigenous people of Australia State and Commonwealth Governments of Australia
Lead figures
Billy Craigie Bert Williams Ghillar Michael Anderson

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 (Australia Day) 1972, and celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022, it is the longest continuous protest for Indigenous land rights in the world.

First established in 1972 under a beach umbrella as a protest against the McMahon government's approach to Indigenous Australian land rights, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is made up of signs and tents. Since 1992 it has been located on the lawn opposite Old Parliament House in Canberra, the Australian capital. It is not considered an official embassy by the Australian Government. The Embassy has been a site of protest and support for grassroots campaigns for the recognition of Indigenous land rights in Australia, Aboriginal deaths in custody, self-determination, and Indigenous sovereignty.