1998

In 1998, with the Native Title Act under threat, and in a desire to show the increasing support for reconciliation, Australian Artists Against Racism and Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) installed a large public artwork on Bondi Beach. The ‘Sea of Hands’ was made up of thousands of corflute hands painted in the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait flags. Each was individually signed to visually represent the volume of public support for native title and reconciliation.

 The first of the Sea of Hands protest artworks was installed outside Parliament House in Canberra on 12 October 1997. The movement grew quickly and hand artworks appeared in the Sydney Botanic Gardens, Coogee and Manly beaches, Alice Springs, Broome, Darwin, Redfern Park, Uluru and many smaller towns and cities. A different indigenous artist curated the installation at each venue.

The Bondi Beach ‘Sea of Hands’ was installed on 20 and 21 March 1998. The installation included more than 100,000 coloured hands. “Sorry begins with me,” read the message on one.

The ‘Sea of Hands’ was created as a powerful physical representation of the Citizen's Statement on Native Title. The hands represented the thousands of Australians opposed to the Howard government’s 10-point Native Title strategy, prompted by the High Court’s Wik decision that native title rights coexisted on lands leased by pastoralists. The 10-Point Plan sought to add a sunset clause on native title claims, increase the burden of proof on Aboriginal claimants and restrict Aboriginal rights to negotiate with grant holders.

ANTaR, which devised the protest artwork, is a national advocacy body dedicated to furthering the rights – and overcoming the disadvantage – of First Australians. The ‘Sea of Hands’ continues to be an important symbol of the struggle of First Nations people for recognition, reconciliation and native title. The Uluru Statement from the Heart seeks to continue this momentum for change created by the ‘Sea of Hands’. The Statement’s aims include giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a say over laws that impact on native title. New ‘Sea of Hands’ art installations are held nationally each year.

Images courtesy the Wentworth Courier via the Cultural Gifts Program and the Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.