In the year of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee, 1977, we had presented a petition to the Tasmanian government demanding that land be returned to Aboriginal people, but we were ignored.
When we heard the Queen was coming out to Hobart, we thought it was a good opportunity to say to her, 'Your lot took the country off us. We got absolutely no redress. What are you gonna do about it?'
There was a lot of publicity at the time that she was coming, and that a reception would be held in her honour.
Somehow we learnt that Aboriginal people were not going to be invited to the reception at Hobart. So it was an all-white affair. On that basis, we complained. According to white people, we're deemed to be British citizens, with the same rights as white people, yet the only people not being invited into the reception were Black people. And we thought it was racist.
The Tasmanian government refused to budge, but at the 11th hour, a limousine pulled up with an official invite for an Aboriginal representative to go the reception! So I went.
Taking the fight to the top
When I arrived to the reception, there were real issues. The police surrounded me and tried to stop me from moving, and there was a lot of kerfuffle about it.
The Tasmanian Premier and Queen Elizabeth's chief secretary came over and asked what the problem was.
I said, 'I'm the only Aboriginal here, and the only one who's been surrounded by coppers. This is supposed to be for all people, not just white people.'
It caught the attention of the Queen.
So they took me up, and she asked what the problem was. I said 'I've got a petition that they wont let me show you. We think you should be doing something about it.'
I made it plain that I was Aboriginal, that the Crown had taken our country, we got absolutely nothing back, and it wasn't acceptable.
She listened to me, and she understood what I was saying. All this caused a problem with the dignitaries because she had walked past them to come and see me!
Michael Mansell presents the Queen with a petition for Tasmanian Aboriginal land rights in 1977. Source: Supplied
I also gave her some Aboriginal artefacts. In exchange for getting our Country back, I offered these 'trinkets and beads'. I said, 'Here you can have this, now give our Country back.' I was half-joking, but she kept a straight face!
When that was over I decided to leave, because the only reason I was there was to represent the interests of my people. As I was driving away, the police pulled me up and searched the car. Again, the only person surrounded by police, who had been invited by the Queen to meet her, was Aboriginal.
It just showed up the racist nature of Tasmanian society, which is why I was there.
A breakthrough
It was significant.
The Tasmanian government were refusing to have anything to do with the issue of land rights. We were banging our heads against a brick wall. So instead of talking to the maggot on the block, we went straight to the butcher and decided to raise it directly with the head of the whole of the Commonwealth of Australia.
It was a breakthrough for Aboriginal people here: to go to the Crown and say to her, 'Listen we're getting a raw deal here, and they're doing it in your name' was a big turning point.
The publicity that was generated from her visit and the treatment that we got really put us front and centre of Tasmanian politics at that time.
The government had been saying 'We will not talk to you about theft of land, we don't care how much you march, what you say, we will not touch it.' Then all of a sudden they set up a review regarding theft of Aboriginal land. The review came back with a load of rubbish and it went nowhere, but these are the campaigns that take 20 years.
The long fight
18 years after I spoke to the queen, the Tasmanian parliament passed land rights legislation. We would never have gotten that legislation had the Queen not met with me as a representative.
There was nothing special about me, it was the fact that she met an Aboriginal representative. That was a turning point in the refusal of her ministers to talk about justice for Aboriginal people. They couldn't ignore it anymore, once it had been raised with the Queen.
I don't know if she said anything to the premier of the day, but I wouldn't be surprised if she had made some comment after the event. But it didn't matter: the fact that the topic of injustices for Aboriginal people was raised so publicly meant the Tasmanian government couldn't turn away.
They were ministers of the Crown, but I was the one who actually spoke to her.
