On 25 January 1972, Prime Minister William McMahon declared that land rights would never be granted to First Nations people as long as he was in power. The statement sent shockwaves through the Indigenous communities.
The following night, Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bertie Williams and Tony Coorey travelled from Redfern to Canberra and stuck a beach umbrella into the ground outside Old Parliament House and sat under it. They called it the Aboriginal Embassy.
