I had to speak: Pat Eatock

In 1972, Pat Eatock went to the first National Aboriginal Land Rights conference in Alice Springs. When people were getting scared about standing up for their land rights, though women were not supposed to, Pat spoke up about the need to consider future generations. Auntie Pat also asked local people what they wanted her to take back to Sydney: "Ningla-ana: I am hungry for my mother (ie. land)”. This became a slogan for the early land rights movement. She also spoke (and cried) with an old woman who had had seventeen of her children taken from her.

Keywords: Stolen generations; values; land rights