Indigenous freedom fighters remembered

13 September 2016

The opening of an official monument to two Indigenous freedom fighters, Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, took place in Melbourne on Sunday 11 September. The monument stands on the ground where they were hanged by authorities in 1842, near the corner of Bowen Lane and Franklin Street next to RMIT University.

Of the importance of the monument, Joseph Toscano, from the Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner Commemoration Committee, wrote:

“Any visit to Canberra isn’t complete without a visit to the National War Memorial. The massive driveway that leads to the Memorial is dotted with monuments to the Australian men and women who fought and died in wars Australia has been involved in.

“Around the country, nearly every suburb, every town and every rural hamlet in Australia has an avenue of honour or monument to commemorate those who fought, those who were wounded and those Australians who paid the ultimate price, fighting wars stretching from the Boxer Rebellion in China, to Afghanistan.

“Nowhere in the National War Memorial, nowhere among the thousands of monuments erected to Australians, who in the majority of cases died fighting other people’s wars for the glory of God, Queen and Country, is a mention made of those original Australians who paid the ultimate price for protecting their families, their people, their way of life and their lands.”


Read More

Red Flag
Red Flag is published by Socialist Alternative, a revolutionary socialist group with branches across Australia.
Find out more about us, get involved, or subscribe.

Original Red Flag content is subject to a Creative Commons licence and may be republished under the terms listed here.