About 1200 people marched through Melbourne on July 8 in the annual National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) march. The rally demanded "Treaty Now", "Land Rights" and "Stop Deaths in Custody".
Veteran activist Robbie Thorpe said it was one of the biggest turnouts he had seen since 1970. "It's a good time to be standing up strong for what we've always believed in," he told SBS.
"It's about recognition. It's about sorting some issues of justice for Aboriginal people and bringing that to light. I think we've always used the week for that purpose, to say 'we do exist, and we've got some issues here'."
Thousands marched in Darwin in what organisers say is the biggest turnout in living memory, and hundreds marched through Adelaide. In Brisbane, activists staged a sit-in chanting “Always was, always will be Aboriginal land”.
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