Producer unknown to us
Sticker “White Australia Has a Black History“
Australia, South Australia, Adelaide
1987
Adhesive film
Birgit Scheps (Curator for Australia) acquired this sticker in 1987, during a study trip to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Donated to the museum by Scheps 1987
Au 4122
This sticker represents the Indigenous NGO “Treaty ´88,“ which worked for First Australians’ land rights. It reads “White Australia has a Black History“ and “Don´t Celebrate 1988.“ In addition, it shows the outline of the Australian continent, filled with the land rights symbol (black for First Australians, red for their property – the land, and the yellow sun, which unites both). There is also a mesh of iron bars to symbolize the oppression of First Australians (a black rectangle behind bars). A white rectangle in front of the bars symbolizes white Australia. Birgit Scheps, currently curator for Australia and the Pacific at Leipzig, acquired this sticker 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