Australian Hall, Sydney, 26th January 1938

The twenty-sixth of January 2008 marks the day, 70 years ago, when an important National Aboriginal civil-rights gathering, the Day of Mourning, took place at Australian Hall, Sydney.

It was an event unique for its time in Australia, representing the culmination of years of concerted efforts on the part of Aboriginal leaders such as William Cooper, William Ferguson and others.

Users of this web site should be aware that, in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, hearing names or seeing images of deceased persons may cause sadness or distress, particularly to the relatives of these people. Terms and annotations which reflect the author's attitude or that of the period in which the item was written may be considered inappropriate today in some circumstances.