Ghillar Michael Anderson

First day of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy outside Parliament House in Canberra on 17 January 1972. Left to right: Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, Ghillar Michael Anderson and Tony Coorey.

Ghillar Michael Anderson (born 1951), or Michael Ghillar Anderson, is a Euahlayi Elder and activist from Goodooga, New South Wales, in Australia.[1][2][3]

In 1972 he was one of the four men who set up the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, as a protest in the struggle for the recognition of Indigenous land rights in Australia,[4][5] eventually becoming its High Commissioner.[6]

As a participant in the Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project, Anderson has collaborated[2] with academic astronomers Robert Fuller and Duane Hamacher[7] in sharing and documenting traditional star knowledge.[2] He has been pivotal in researching the Emu in the sky astronomical interpretation, that recognises the space between the stars in the Milky Way as containing ancestral figures,[3][8] the inspiration for the title of Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu.[9]

Anderson was featured in a documentary film about Aboriginal Australian astronomy, which was widely shown, including in schools.[2]

Anderson has sat on a UN Committee in Geneva addressing the repatriation of cultural material.[10]

In 2013, Anderson with other leaders, proclaimed a republic in Dirranbandi, Queensland. He was elected his nation's head of state and informed Queen Elizabeth II.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference minorplanet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Lysaght, Gary-Jon (6 July 2021). "Asteroid named in honour of Ghillar Michael Anderson for the Aboriginal elder's contribution to astronomy". ABC News. Updated 8 July 2021. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b Fuller, Robert S.; Anderson, Michael G.; Norris, Ray P.; Trudgett, Michelle (2014). "The emu sky knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi peoples". Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 17 (2): 171–179. arXiv:1403.0304. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2014.02.04. S2CID 53352158.
  4. ^ Dow, Coral (4 April 2000). "Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Icon or Eyesore?". Parliament of Australia. Canberra: Parliamentary Library. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  5. ^ "The Aboriginal Tent Embassy 20 years on". Canberra Times. 27 July 1992. p. 30. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Aboriginal Embassy". Tribune (Sydney, NSW : 1939 - 1991). 2 May 1972. p. 10. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  7. ^ Duane Hamacher, Associate Professor of Cultural Astronomy University of Melbourne. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Star Knowledge of First Australians". Cosmos Magazine. 19 January 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  9. ^ Pascoe, Bruce (2014), Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?, Magabala Books, ISBN 978-1-922142-43-6
  10. ^ Fairley, Gina (9 June 2021). "Is custodianship outdated thinking for museums and galleries?". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  11. ^ Debra, Jopson. "Boomerang republic: One man's struggle to restart his country". SBS. Retrieved 7 July 2021.