The pioneers of the Aboriginal land rights movement in the Kimberley are working off a faded photograph to try to identify people who took part in the Noonkanbah land rights protests, which galvanised Indigenous resistance in the region almost 40 years ago.

The iconic image was taken in 1978 and shows dozens of Aboriginal people marching across the dusty paddocks of Noonkanbah Station, in protest against plans by American company AMEX to drill for oil near sacred sites.

John Darraga Watson, now aged in his 80s, has been identified as one of the blurry figures holding a large banner reading 'No Mining on Sacred Land'.

He said while his memory was growing foggier, the day remained clear in his mind.

"We were sitting at the river and we nearly got run over, nearly got cleaned up by the big truck," he said.

"The police came, took us to jail, two hours they put us away.

"That day I was surprised you know, that all the people came together … all the Aboriginal people was there, we never had lawyers, so we were just our own people.

"That's why we all [keep] going back to that day, when the [traditional] law people set up the Kimberley Land Council."

Violent clashes part of two-year dispute

The photo was taken towards the start of a dispute that would drag on for two years, after then-WA premier Charles Court ordered oil company AMEX to proceed with its exploration program, despite the objections of the Yungngora people.

There were violent clashes as convoys of drilling trucks and police pushed through the protest barricades.

The dispute was the catalyst for the creation of the Kimberley Land Council, which is running the photography history project ahead of its 40th anniversary celebrations.

John Watson says the protest was the catalyst for setting up the Kimberley Land Council. ( ABC Kimberley: Erin Parke )

Chairman Anthony Watson, son of John Darraga Watson, said so far 38 of the 50 figures in the photograph had been identified.

"It's pretty hard now because a lot of them have moved on or passed away," he said.

"But it means a lot because it was a significant time and era, and it's a reminder that lots of our elders, while they didn't know how to read and write, they had their cultural rights and actually stood up against the Australian Government."

Anthony Watson remembers it as a tumultuous time.

"I wanted to go with my dad to the march … but he told me he was going to get arrested, and it will be too dangerous for me to go along.

"So I had to stay home and go to school."

John Watson and Anthony Watson. ( ABC Kimberley: Erin Parke )

Among the children who did attend was Tom Putuparri Lawford, a Wangkatjungka man who is seen skipping ahead of the banners as a 10-year-old.

"To me that photograph is very strong, it is a strong picture," he said.

"It reminds us of the way our people were in them days, that they fought for our country.

"At that time, being a kid, I didn't know that much, but looking back now, as I get older, that picture, it sends out a message to all Aboriginal people — do not touch Aboriginal country, it's sacred and it should be left alone."

Fight moves to the court room

The Noonkanbah scenes were repeated more than three decades later in the Kimberley when some Aboriginal families, opposed to an LNG precinct planned at James Price Point, clashed with Woodside workers and police at picket lines.

But Anthony Watson said the battleground for land rights was now largely in the court room.

"At least now there is better engagement, and better respect towards laws that are put in place with the native title law," he said.

"We need to win more cases — a lot of the system with the native title actually work against us, but it's something that we can build on and try and strengthen a lot of our rights."

Twelve figures in the Noonkanbah march photo remain unidentified and, with memories fading and many protestors deceased, their names may never be known.

John Darraga Watson is now an old man, and his brow furrows as his daughter Leela prompts him in Nyikina language to recall the faces.

"There are only a few people here that I know … I feel sad," he said.

"All my leaders are all gone. And some of the young ones are gone too."