ABSTRACT
The Aboriginal Embassy at Canberra has been killed. With it went an avenue of legitimate Aboriginal protest. In the words of Alice Briggs, ‘It may have been only a tent, but it was ours. It was all the Aboriginal people had going for them.’ After the Embassy had been ripped off the lawns Senator Bonner commented, ‘I just can’t see how Black Power violence can be avoided now.’ Though existing without official sanction, the Embassy, during its six months existence, for the first time lifted the Aboriginal image above the depressing obscurity of the reserves, it was a challenge to the apathy and two-faced dishonesty of white Australians. The spirit of the Embassy will not be crushed as easily as the tents were crushed. The Embassy as protest was only the tip of the iceberg of Aboriginal discontent. But our government cannot stomach any sort of protest, however peaceful. That is why Aboriginal youth, despairing of ever tapping any human compassion or responsibility amongst government are becoming more militant. They see no alternative.
