King Charles meets Indigenous leaders to mark 40th anniversary of handover
The royal couple appeared calm during the protest, and the King spoke quietly to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as Thorpe was led out of the Great Hall of Parliament House.
Talking to native leaders became a regular part of the King’s meetings over the years; Including Wednesday’s meeting where the Kayapo people reunited with Brazilian indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire.
King Charles reunited with indigenous Brazilian chef Raoni Metuktire during a reception in London.Credit: Getty Images
The two first met in the 1980s, when Metuktire was fighting against land clearing in the Amazon rainforest. This week’s meeting in London comes ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Brazil next month; This is an important issue for the King, given his long-standing support for action to reduce carbon emissions.
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park currently attracts more than 250,000 visitors annually and is on the World Heritage List as one of the most important natural and cultural landmarks.
Parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act in 1976, allowing people to claim land where traditional title can be proven. The NT government resisted claims to Uluru, but the stalemate ended in 1983 when Hawke and his ministers decided to change the law and hand Uluru over to the Anangu.
The meeting at the heart of the former British empire began on Thursday morning local time (8.30pm AEDT) and there was no emphasis on colonial history.
The first non-Indigenous person to visit Uluru is believed to be explorer William Gosse, who was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1842 and led an expedition to Central Australia in 1873. Gosse named the area Ayers Rock after Sir Henry Ayers, then prime minister of South Australia.
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