As members of the Victorian Jewish community, we walk today together with our friends and allies in remembrance and appreciation of William Cooper and to reciprocate the march that he led on the German Consulate in Melbourne on 6 December 1938. While world leadership watched in silent disbelief to the events of Kristallnacht, Uncle William Cooper, the Secretary of the Australian Aborigines’ League and an elder of the Yorta Yorta, led the only known private protest against the Nazi regime.

At a time when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people were themselves denied citizenship and other basic human rights, he chose to stand for our people and our future.





Today, exactly 80 years later, we seek to honour William Cooper’s memory by making a similar stand, and demand justice and self-determination for all Aboriginal people.