Jimmy Clements

Jimmy Clements
Jimmy Clements, also known as "King Billy", at the opening of the Australian Federal Parliament, 1927.
Bornc. 1847
Australia
Died28 August 1927
Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Other namesKing Billy, Nangar, Yangar
Known forActivist for indigenous land rights

Jimmy Clements (c. 1847 – 28 August 1927) was an Aboriginal elder from the Wiradjuri tribe in Australia, and was present at the opening of the Provisional Parliament House in Canberra on 9 May 1927. He explained that he was there to demonstrate his "sovereign rights to the Federal Territory", making this the first recorded instance of Aboriginal protest at the Parliament.[1]

He was also known as "King Billy"[2] and also as Nangar or Yangar.[3]

Clements and another Wiradjuri man, George Noble, had walked for nearly a week over the mountains from Brungle Mission near Gundagai, New South Wales.[4] The two men were the only Indigenous people to attend the first opening of parliament. Clements was initially told to move on by police at the ceremony due to his attire but due to popular support from other members of the crowd he was among prominent citizens who were presented to the Duke and Duchess of York.[2]

Clements died on 28 August 1927, aged 80, in Queanbeyan, New South Wales near Canberra. The newspaper report noted that he was buried in Queanbeyan cemetery "outside consecrated ground". (Indigenous Australians were not buried in consecrated ground at the time.)[5]

  1. ^ Anna Kelsey-Sugg, Annabelle Quince (4 July 2018). "Watershed moments in Indigenous Australia's struggle to be heard". ABC News. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b Wright, Tony (13 February 2008). "Power of occasion best expressed by the names of those who were not there". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  3. ^ Photograph of Nangar or Yangar of the Wiradjuri Tribe, an Aboriginal known as Jimmy Clements or "King Billy", at the opening of Federal Parliament, 1927 - copy held by State Library of New South Wales
  4. ^ "Old Parliament House: The Opening". History of the House. Old Parliament House. Archived from the original on 25 September 2004. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  5. ^ McKenna, Mark (2004). "The Need for a Reconciled Republic". Manning Clark House. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2008.