Strike Camps: The Photographs of John Wilson

31 July – 5 December 2026

In 1946 around eight hundred Aboriginal people walked away from terrible conditions on pastoral stations in the north-west of Australia, declaring themselves on strike. They did not go back to work, and for the next two and a half decades eked a living by mining, pearl shell farming and running their own pastoral operations.  

In 1959 the anthropologist John Wilson took photographs of the strikers on mining camps, as they dug and sorted minerals to sell, operated conveyer belts and crushers, drove diggers and trucks. These photographs feature yandies, adapted from sifting seed but here used to sort heavy rocks from dirt. They show community meetings in which the strikers made decisions collectively, sitting in groups of men and women. They picture people resting under bough shelters and shadecloths in the heat of the day. 

This exhibition offers a detailed photographic record, documented on early colour film, of a part of Australia’s history that has been forgotten. This communist movement of Aboriginal strikers running their own mining operations took place before the mining boom of the 1970s reshaped Australia’s economy, and before Aboriginal self-determination, Land Rights and Native Title. 

The exhibition is a testament to Australia’s most radical political movement, and to the fortitude and industry of Aboriginal people at a time when they weren’t recognised by Australia’s political system.

WARNING: Aboriginal people are warned that this exhibition will include pictures and names of people who are deceased.

Image: Photo by John Wilson