Kevin Gilbert
Button “Treaty ‘88”
Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Canberra
1987
Metal, plastic
Birgit Scheps (Curator for Australia) acquired this button in 1987, during a study trip to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Donated to the museum by Scheps 1987
Au 4140
The Indigenous NGO “Treaty `88” distributed these buttons as part of the land rights movement. The button reads “Treaty `88” in a central yellow circle on red and black. These are also the colors of the land rights movement. Birgit Scheps, currently curator for Australia and the Pacific at Leipzig, acquired this button during a study trip in 1987.
In 1988, Australia commemorated the 200-year anniversary of its founding as a British colony that later became the Federation of Australian States. However, the Indigenous population had no reason to celebrate, and used the “Bicentenary” to protest racism, injustice, and discrimination against First Australians, and, most importantly, to demand their traditional land rights.
For the first time, these protests also reached a wide international audience.
Birgit Scheps-Bretschneider