Its coat is more rust than paint and it hasn't been driven since the early 90s, but a truck that pulled up at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra last week spent its better days making land rights history.

Kerry Gibbs was just 14 when he rode shotgun in the Bedford J Series truck on what would be its first history-making trip after the Wave Hill walk-off.

It was 1966 and Mr Gibbs didn't understand why those in the car had to act so secretively during the 800km trip down to Wave Hill Station, south of Darwin.

About 200 Gurindji stockmen and house workers had walked off the job to protest unfair wages, which eventually led then-prime minister Gough Whitlam to hand the land back to its traditional owners in 1975.

Kerry Gibbs with a replica Bedford truck for the 50th anniversary of the Wave Hill walk-off. ( ABC Radio Darwin: Emilia Terzon )

"I couldn't quite understand why, when we pulled up to camp or had a cup of tea, we had to get so far off the road," Mr Gibbs, who became the truck's custodian, told ABC Radio Darwin's Lyrella Cochrane.

"In later life I worked it out. There were a lot of people who weren't really happy with us … because the Gurindji people all worked in that area."

Those that walked off the job found themselves without a reliable food source and so the truck spent much of the next nine years delivering flour, clothes and other basic supplies to the grounded protesters.

The 4,000km final voyage

With its glory days behind it, the beaten-up truck had been at the mercy of the elements for nearly a decade of wet seasons.

It was in such a bad shape that the people tasked with transporting the vehicle to Canberra had to spend a week getting prepared.

"Some of the glass in the vehicle is very, very old glass, so they were scared it would shatter," Mr Gibbs said.

"They masked every bit of glass up, they sealed everything perfectly and transported it down there."

The Bedford truck made its final, 4,000km voyage in a shipping container and has recently been sterilised to prevent it degrading further.

'National icon' on display to all

Before he died in 2013, the truck's original owner Brian Manning bequeathed the truck to Mr Gibbs in the hope that he would consult with Gurindji people about its fate.

The recently unveiled Bedford truck is on display in the National Museum of Australia's main atrium. ( Supplied: Brenda Croft )

Among the options was returning the vintage truck to the remote communities of Kalkarindji or Daguragu.

"If it went out there, nobody would probably see it," Mr Gibbs said.

With time, all remaining Wave Hill strikers signed a document giving permission for the truck to be displayed in Canberra — an outcome that left Mr Gibbs rapt.

"It is a national icon ... what better place could we think of to put it where every Australian has the chance to go and see it?" he said.

"I believe that Brian would be really happy to have it where it is.