Anniversary of Michael Mansell’s Land Rights Petition to the Queen

15 March · First presented in 1977

At a royal reception in Hobart during Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee tour, Michael Mansell brought Tasmanian Aboriginal demands for land rights directly to the monarch. The anniversary recognises Aboriginal political leadership and the continuing assertion of rights to Country.

Taking the claim to the Crown

Writing for NITV in 2022, Mansell recalled that a demand for land return had already been put to the Tasmanian government without a satisfactory response. After challenging the exclusion of Aboriginal people from the reception, he received a late invitation to attend as an Aboriginal representative.

His account describes police restricting his movements at the reception before the Queen spoke with him. He raised dispossession and presented a petition, along with Aboriginal artefacts. The encounter challenged the distance between royal ceremony and the unresolved consequences of colonisation.

Why this anniversary matters

The presentation is a useful starting point for learning about advocacy: who gets heard, which institutions hold power, and how people create opportunities to make an ignored claim public. A petition is more than a document. Its authors, audience, delivery and reception can all reveal the political relationships surrounding it.

For schools and workplaces, this anniversary offers a chance to centre Tasmanian Aboriginal voices. Read Mansell’s account alongside the official itinerary and parliamentary discussion, and distinguish a participant’s recollection from an administrative record or a later interpretation.

Checking the date

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s official 1977 royal-visit timeline places the Tasmanian State Reception at Wrest Point Hotel on Tuesday 15 March 1977. Tasmanian Hansard identifies the Wrest Point reception as the occasion when Mansell presented the petition. Read together, those records establish the anniversary date used here. Mansell’s NITV account independently confirms the year and circumstances.

The reception did not itself return land or create land-rights legislation. It should be understood within a longer history of Community organising, rather than as a substitute for that work.

Ideas for learning and reflection

  • Compare the official description of the royal reception with Mansell’s first-person account. What does each source help us understand?
  • Explore why an Aboriginal representative would take a land claim directly to the Crown.
  • Discuss how petitions and public advocacy can make an issue visible without immediately securing the change sought.
  • Follow the links below and identify which statements are documented facts, personal recollections or interpretations.

Sources and further reading

Michael Mansell’s first-person account. NITV, 9 September 2022. His recollection of the petition, exclusion from the reception and encounter with the Queen.
Read Mansell’s account at NITV

1977 Royal Visit. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Official itinerary identifying the Wrest Point State Reception on 15 March, with a link to the original program held by the National Library of Australia.
Read the official royal-visit timeline

House of Assembly, 13 September 2022. Parliament of Tasmania. Hansard discussion of the presentation at Wrest Point, in the printed proceedings on pages 8–9.
Read the Tasmanian parliamentary record (PDF)

Related dates

Explore the Yirrkala Bark Petitions, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and the Wave Hill Walk-Off to consider different forms of First Nations representation and land-rights advocacy.

Our related products and resources

The historical sources above are freely available for further learning. Our books collection offers other reading options; choose resources appropriate to your learners and local context. This anniversary does not require a purchase.