FROM LITTLE THINGS BIG THINGS GROW

But this is the story of something much more / How power and privilege cannot move a people / Who know where they stand and stand in the law

So goes the final moving refrain from Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody’s enduring protest anthem, From Little Things Big Things Grow. It’s an apt title for a touring exhibition soon to land at the Museum of Sydney, showcasing the stories from a long and difficult struggle for Indigenous rights.

“One of the most inspirational stories for me is the Wave Hill walk-off of 1966, immortalised in Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody’s extraordinary song From Little Things Big Things Grow and Merv Bishop’s 1975 photograph of Gough Whitlam pouring sand into Vincent Lingiari’s hand. Holding out for nine long years, the Gurindji people finally achieved their goal to rights over their land, an outstanding example of the power people can have to change their own lives,” says Inara Walden from the Museum.

That photo, along with numerous other rare and historically important items will weave together the multi-hued tale of equal rights, spanning from 1920 to 1970. Key events like the 1938 Day of Mourning and Protest, the 1965 Freedom Ride, Albert Namatjira’s jailing, and the 1967 Referendum are just some of the stories you might recognise – but there are hundreds more, simmering beneath the surface.

Says Walden, “My favourite item in the exhibition is a set of six theatre seats from the Bowraville, which was at one time racially segregated. Aboriginal people were forced to sit on the hard seats, not the plush upholstered ones. They had to arrive after the film had already started and leave before it finished, so they would not be noticed by other patrons. It seems shameful now to know that such things were once commonplace, with Aboriginal people were made second class citizens in their own country.”

With a new referendum proposal in the works to amend the constitution to recognise Indigenous people, From Little Things … couldn’t come at a better time.

“I hope people will feel inspired by the individuals they meet in this exhibition. It reveals so many stories about people who stood for change and what was right, and really made a difference. Indigenous and non-Indigenous people often fought together to right wrongs that had become entrenched in Australian society, though of course the risks for Aboriginal people were far greater.”

Feb 19-May 8, Museum of Sydney, cnr Bridge & Phillip Sts, Sydney, $5-10, 9251 5988, hht.net.au