The Embassy’s focus on land is underlined from the very beginning. The very first announcements by Michael Anderson, who is fast surpassing his initial claim to fame as an intimidator of Evonne Goolagong, are that ‘the land was taken from us by force — we shouldn’t have to lease it’, and that the group would remain on the lawns until ‘the Government reconsiders its statement’. ^[20] In early February, the Embassy announces its official ‘land rights policy’. It is a five point program demanding ownership of all reserves in Australia, preservation of sacred lands, Aboriginal ownership of the Northern Territory as well as areas of ‘certain cities’, and six billion dollars as compensation for all other land. ^[21]

Throughout February, orange, green and white tents sprout overnight on the Parliament House lawns, and the number of protesters begins to swell. Over the next few months, John Newfong can often be seen around the encampment. Newfong is an Indigenous activist and journalist from Stradbroke Island, and has become an official Embassy spokesman. One can imagine him standing his ground on the lawns, in earnest discussion with reporters. Perhaps he gestures to the spot above the entrance to the main tent, to explain the significance of the two flags that now fly alongside the ‘Embassy’ placard. One, he might say, is an African international unity flag in black, green and red stripes, adopted by activists to represent the people, the land and the blood shed by Aborigines who have died in defence of their country. The other, a black and brown flag to signify the people and the land, is overlaid with a white spear and four crescent shapes surrounding it, signifying four men seated around a campfire. ^[22]

This is clearly no ordinary protest and Peter Howson, the Minister for the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts, is disturbed. The declaration of an Embassy, he worries, implied the existence of a sovereign state or separate nation. This, he insists, ‘cut[s] across the Government’s expressed objection to separate development’. ^[23] From his viewpoint as a political conservative, Howson is right to worry. The Embassy does not merely hint at the existence of a separate nation. It is a self-evident statement.