A Ten Eyewitness news report about protests by Indigenous Australians on 30 September 1982, at the start of the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.
Despite the Queensland Premier's ban on street marches, protests were held before and during the Games. As seen in this clip, 39 protesters were arrested at a demonstration during the opening ceremony. As the police moved in demonstrators chanted, 'the whole world is watching'. The protests were significant in placing the issue of land rights on the national and international stage.
In 2012 activists gathered in central Brisbane to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Commonwealth Games demonstrations.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.