Aboriginal icon Vincent Lingiari’s grandkids fight for NT’s two seats in Canberra

The grandchildren of Aboriginal rights icon Vincent Lingiari are fighting to preserve the parliamentary seat bearing his name.

Gough Whitlam symbolically pours soil into the hands of land rights hero Vincent Lingiari during his visit to the Northern Territory in 1975. Picture: Mervyn Bishop

The grandchildren of Aboriginal rights icon Vincent Lingiari are fighting to preserve the federal parliamentary seat bearing his name, warning Scott Morrison that a plan to abolish the Top End electorate would deprive remote Indigenous communities of a voice in Canberra.

The Australian Electoral Commission has decided either the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari or Solomon will disappear at the next federal election due to the territory’s declining population as a percentage of Australia’s total, unless a joint Labor-Nationals bill to preserve two seats for the Top End is passed.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Lingiari’s descendants say the rights of the remote communities their grandfather represented will not be heard in parliament without having the second Northern Territory seat in the House of Representatives.

Vincent Lingiari’s grandchildren at his grave site. Picture: Penny Smith

“In 2000, we gave permission for the Australian Electoral Commission to use our grandfather’s name for the electorate of Lingiari. We were proud to see the achievements of Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji people recognised in this way,” the letter states.

“Losing a seat will make our voices softer not louder. Government talks about Closing the Gap and a First Nations voice, yet in the Northern Territory — where almost 30 per cent of the population are Aboriginal — we are losing our voice.

“The fight for Land Rights began here on Gurindji country. Our grandfather Vincent Lingiari fought against power and privilege for the betterment of our people, and all Australians.

“We need a minimum of two seats in the federal parliament so that remote voices continue to be heard. One person representing 250,000 people is not enough.”

The Lingiari electorate is seen by his grandchildren — Rosie Smiler, Sonny Smiler, Sonny Victor, Debra Vincent and Amanda Vincent — as a monument to their grandfather’s legacy.

The seat encompasses Gurindji Country, where Lingiari led the 200-strong strike at the Wave Hill Station that led to the birth of the land rights movement.

It was also the site where then prime minister Gough Whitlam famously poured the dirt into Lingiari’s hand and declared his people’s rights to the land.

Lingiari’s grandchildren are hoping their letter will move the Prime Minister to protect the electorate in his name, and they have invited him to come to ­Gurindji Country next year and be part of the 55th anniversary celebrations of the Wave Hill Walk Off.

“We’d love to welcome you, as our Prime Minister, to the big 55th anniversary … so we can share our stories and continue the positive journey towards reconciliation,” they have written.

Rosie Smiler told The Australian that their push to protect the Northern Territory seat was not about politics, but ensuring the people in her remote community of Kalkaringi were heard.

“Land rights started in Gurindji Country (and) the seat should stay here. It represents Vincent — he led us out of the darkness and into the light,” she said on Tuesday. “It’s up to the Prime Minister to sort this out and we hope that he listens.”