Ghillar Michael Anderson

First day of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy outside Parliament House in Canberra on 17 January 1972. Left to right: Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, Ghillar Michael Anderson and Tony Coorey.

Ghillar Michael Anderson (born 1951), or Michael Ghillar Anderson, is a Euahlayi Elder and activist from Goodooga, New South Wales, in Australia.[1][2][3]

In 1972 he was one of the four men who set up the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, as a protest in the struggle for the recognition of Indigenous land rights in Australia,[4][5] eventually becoming its High Commissioner.[6]

As a participant in the Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project, Anderson has collaborated[2] with academic astronomers Robert Fuller and Duane Hamacher[7] in sharing and documenting traditional star knowledge.[2] He has been pivotal in researching the Emu in the sky astronomical interpretation, that recognises the space between the stars in the Milky Way as containing ancestral figures,[3][8] the inspiration for the title of Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu.[9]

Anderson was featured in a documentary film about Aboriginal Australian astronomy, which was widely shown, including in schools.[2]

Anderson has sat on a UN Committee in Geneva addressing the repatriation of cultural material.[10]

In 2013, Anderson with other leaders, proclaimed a republic in Dirranbandi, Queensland. He was elected his nation's head of state and informed Queen Elizabeth II.[11]

Awards and honours

In June 2021 Asteroid 10040 Ghillar was named in honour of Anderson by the IAU.[12][2] The asteroid was discovered by Czech astronomer Zdeňka Vávrová at the Kleť Observatory in 1984. The citation reads as follows:[1]

Ghillar Michael Anderson (b. 1951), of Goodooga, NSW (Australia), is an Aboriginal elder, Senior Law Man, and leader of the Euahlayi people bordering northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. He has shared in-depth knowledge about Kamilaroi and Euahlayi astronomical knowledge and has published several academic papers on the topic.

References

1. "(10040) Ghillar = 1970 EA3 = 1981 TK1 = 1984 QM = 1996 DJ3". IAU Minor Planet Center. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
2. Lysaght, Gary-Jon (6 July 2021). "Asteroid named in honour of Ghillar Michael Anderson for the Aboriginal elder's contribution to astronomy". ABC News. Updated 8 July 2021. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
3. Fuller, Robert S.; Anderson, Michael G.; Norris, Ray P.; Trudgett, Michelle (2014). "The emu sky knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi peoples". Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 17 (2): 171–179. arXiv:1403.0304. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2014.02.04. S2CID 53352158.
4. Dow, Coral (4 April 2000). "Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Icon or Eyesore?". Parliament of Australia. Canberra: Parliamentary Library. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
5. "The Aboriginal Tent Embassy 20 years on". Canberra Times. 27 July 1992. p. 30. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
6. "Aboriginal Embassy". Tribune (Sydney, NSW : 1939 - 1991). 2 May 1972. p. 10. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
7. Duane Hamacher, Associate Professor of Cultural Astronomy University of Melbourne. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
8. "Star Knowledge of First Australians". Cosmos Magazine. 19 January 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
9. Pascoe, Bruce (2014), Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?, Magabala Books, ISBN 978-1-922142-43-6
10. Fairley, Gina (9 June 2021). "Is custodianship outdated thinking for museums and galleries?". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
11. Debra, Jopson. "Boomerang republic: One man's struggle to restart his country". SBS. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
12. WGSBN Bull. 1,3, Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature, 16 June 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.

External links

• Ghillar Michael Anderson, family, and supporters gathering at the National Film and Sound Archive to begin the march on the 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 26 January (photo)
• Ghillar Michael Anderson and his family walking the original route of the march 50 years before from the National Film and Sound Archive down Commonwealth Avenue Bridge to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 26 January (photo)