Susan Charles Rankin on Human Rights Day 2005

Susan Charles Rankin (born 1957), also known as Aunty Sue Rankin, is an Australian Indigenous rights and human rights activist and Elder of the

Dja Dja Wurrung The Djadjawurrung or Dja Dja Wurrung, also known as the Djaara or Jajowrong people and Loddon River tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people who are the traditional owners of lands including the water catchment areas of the Loddon and Avoca ...

people of the Kulin nation from Central

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia. She was one of five signatories by

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

elders who lodged a writ in the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

in April 2005 calling for the Australian Federal Government to be investigated for crimes of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

. On 26 May 2004,

National Sorry Day National Sorry Day, officially the National Day of Healing, is an event held annually in Australia on 26 May commemorating the Stolen Generations. It is part of the ongoing efforts towards Reconciliation in Australia, reconciliation between Ind ...

, Susan Rankin, peacefully re-occupied crown land at Franklinford in central Victoria, calling her campsite the ''Going Home Camp'' as it is a site of significance to the Dja Dja Wurrung. Rankin asked the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment to produce documents proving that the Crown has the right to occupy these lands. According to the 2 June 2004 Daylesford Advocate, local DSE officers admitted they "cannot produce these documents and doubt that such documents exist". Police later arrested her and took her to Ballarat, but no charges were pressed. In 2007 Susan Rankin embarked upon a 1,500 kilometre ''Sacred Life Walk'' from

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Uluru Uluru (; ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone monolith. It outcrop, crops out near the centre of Australia in the southern part of the Northern Territory, south-west of Alice Spri ...

in a bid to "bring world-wide focus on Mother Earth’s changes and the continued deplorable treatment and living conditions of Aboriginal Peoples in the homelands of her Ancestors."Allan X,
Interview with Aunty Sue Rankin
', Perth Indymedia radio on RTRFM 92.1 (Perth), 31 May 2006. Accessed 25 December 2008

References

Dja Dja Wurrung People from Victoria (state) 1957 births Living people Australian Indigenous rights activists Australian women human rights activists {{Indigenous-activist-stub