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Following in Flinders' wake
The first circumnavigation of Australia by Aboriginal mariners was completed in June when the Aboriginal community vessel Tribal Warrior, resplendent with its red, black and yellow Aboriginal tricolour, sailed through Sydney Heads, greeted by a flotilla of tall ships.

There to welcome them were the chairman, Bruce Stewart, and management committee of the Tribal Warrior Association (TWA), together with elders of the Indigenous Gadigal peoples, members of the Eora Nation, and other dignitaries including Sir William Deane, a former governor general of Australia and patron of Reconciliation Australia, and Paul Wand, chairman of the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation.

The June 2003 arrival of the Tribal Warrior in Sydney Harbour also marked the bicentennial of another historic circumnavigation. It was exactly 200 years to the day that Matthew Flinders sailed back into Sydney Harbour on 9 June 1803 after circumnavigating Australia in The Investigator.

"There's a nice twist to the Tribal Warrior returning to Sydney on Flinders' bicentennial anniversary," Bruce Stewart said. "He had a token Aboriginal man, Bungaree, who sailed around Australia with him but I think we can safely say there's nothing token about the voyage of the Tribal Warrior crew - it has given great hope and spirit to Aboriginal people all around Australia and reinstated the faith that Aboriginal people can achieve great success and continue to make historic contributions to the life of this nation."



Following in Flinders' wake The first circumnavigation of Australia by Aboriginal mariners was completed in June when the Aboriginal community vessel Tribal Warrior, resplendent with its red, black and yellow Aboriginal tricolour, sailed through Sydney Heads, greeted by a flotilla of tall ships. There to welcome them were the chairman, Bruce Stewart, and management committee of the Tribal Warrior Association (TWA), together with elders of the Indigenous Gadigal peoples, members of the Eora Nation, and other dignitaries including Sir William Deane, a former governor general of Australia and patron of Reconciliation Australia, and Paul Wand, chairman of the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation. The June 2003 arrival of the Tribal Warrior in Sydney Harbour also marked the bicentennial of another historic circumnavigation. It was exactly 200 years to the day that Matthew Flinders sailed back into Sydney Harbour on 9 June 1803 after circumnavigating Australia in The Investigator. "There's a nice twist to the Tribal Warrior returning to Sydney on Flinders' bicentennial anniversary," Bruce Stewart said. "He had a token Aboriginal man, Bungaree, who sailed around Australia with him but I think we can safely say there's nothing token about the voyage of the Tribal Warrior crew - it has given great hope and spirit to Aboriginal people all around Australia and reinstated the faith that Aboriginal people can achieve great success and continue to make historic contributions to the life of this nation."
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