Hundreds of people gathered to rally and march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at the front of Old Parliament House in Canberra.
After speeches in Garema Place, the marchers set off over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, led by a phalanx of motor-cyclists, some flying the Aboriginal Flag newly freed from corporate copyright ownership.
At the site of the Embassy itself, the rally turned into more of a cultural festival, with T-shirts, a sausage sizzle, music and the hubbub of people catching up with each other.
"It's good to see all our people together," William Doolan from Cowra said, adding: "It is a day of mourning."
"We are here to celebrate the 50th anniversary. We are here to come as one together and to show that we are proud," Leilani Keen-Church said.
"We want to show everyone that we are still living on this earth. We are the traditional owners of Australia," Tremayne Malone-Fisher said.
At the initial rally in Civic, Wayne Coco Wharton, said he had been there for the 40th anniversary, and the message was the same: "For everyone to go home and make their communities stronger - make their nations stronger."
He said the problem Aboriginal people faced was not just one of racism but of a system which oppressed them and others around the world.
"It's not about race. It's not about colour," he said. "It's about privilege and the persecuted."
Two themes dominated the rally and march: land rights for Aboriginal people and deaths in custody.
Mr Wharton took some comfort from the prosecution of white police in the United States for murder.
"In 600 cases here in Australia, not one person has been proven guilty," he said in his speech.
"One of the 600 has got to be guilty."
As the marchers crossed the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge they chanted the call and response: "What do we want? Land rights. When do we want them? Now."
At the Tent Embassy, a celebration and a protest were planned.
One of the organisers, Paul Girrawah House, said the embassy's message hadn't changed.
While the push for land rights and sovereignty was still critical, he said it was also about honouring ancestors and the traditional owners of the land.
"It's about acknowledgement and honouring our ancestors, the founding families and traditional owners of country," he said.
"Our land was never ceded. It was stolen without consent or treaty and we've never been compensated for our loss."
The Embassy started exactly 50 years ago when four Aboriginal men stuck a beach umbrella in the grass outside what is now Old Parliament House but was then the functioning parliament.
While the single beach umbrella on the grass lawn has since expanded to a dozen or so tents, and Parliament House has moved a bit further up the road, the campaign remains the same.
One of the founders, Ghillar Michael Anderson, said despite the arrival of native title, land registry documents he had seen continued to not name the traditional owners, instead calling it "unused state land".
