Freedom Day: Vincent Lingiari and the Story of the Wave Hill Walk-Off

Rosie Smiler is a 39-year-old Gurindji woman, a twin with Lisa Smiler and a granddaughter of the great Gurindji leader, Vincent Lingiari. Rosie is a teacher’s assistant for Years 3 and 4 at the tiny primary school in the Gurindji community of Kalkarindji. Rosie speaks Gurindji, Walpiri and Mudburra Aboriginal languages, as well as Gurindji Kriol and English. She describes herself as minyiti, or shy, though she is also very brave, just like her grandfather was.

Thomas Mayo is a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin. As an Islander growing up on the mainland, he learned to hunt traditional foods with his father and to island dance from the Darwin community of Torres Strait Islanders. In high school, Thomas’s English teacher suggested he should become a writer. He didn’t think then that he would become one of the first ever Torres Strait Islander authors to have a book published for the general trade. Instead, he became a wharf labourer from the age of seventeen, until he became a union official for the Maritime Union of Australia in his early thirties. Quietly spoken in character, Thomas found his voice on the wharves. As he gained the skills of negotiation and organising in the union movement, he applied those skills to advancing the rights of Indigenous peoples, becoming a signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a tireless campaigner. Following the Uluru Convention, Thomas was entrusted to carry the sacred canvas of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. He then embarked on an eighteen-month journey around the country to garner support for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice, and a Makarrata Commission for truth-telling and agreement-making or treaties. Thomas Mayo is the author of Finding The Heart of The Nation, Dear Son and the children’s books - Finding Our Heart and Freedom Day.

Shontane is a Noongar and Yamatji woman who came into acting when she completed the Aboriginal Performance course at WAAPA followed by the Bachelor of Arts (Acting). She comes from a dance background in contemporary and still undertakes dance classes in different styles to keep connected to her dance roots. She hopes to become a successful Indigenous actor to help tell Indigenous stories and assist the under representation of Indigenous Australians in theatre and on television screens.