...a very great Australian...

'I came here today because I was invited by the family. I think anyone who was here today, even hard bitten journalists couldn't fail to be moved by the significance of the occasion. It's the story of a very great Australian and the story of a struggle that ultimately changed the face of this country. It's just untenable to my mind that we could have gone into the next century as a nation pretending that non-indigenous people were the first people to arrive here.'

Keywords: desecration, Mabo, Edward Koiki, tombstone ceremony, Townsville, 1995

Robert Tickner, Federal Minister for Aboriginal and Islander Affairs, interviewed by Trevor Graham, 1995.
Author: Graham, Trevor
© Film Australia
Source: Tickner, Robert