Producer unknown to us
Button “Black Rights = Black Land Rights”
Australia, South Australia, Adelaide
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 4141
This button for the land rights movement of First Australians proclaims “Black Rights Are Black Land Rights“ in white on black. 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