How hollow, the Olympic dream?

Friday, 29 May 2026
The Goori Embassy at Barambin / Victoria Park is under attack by Queensland Police. Brisbane City council are clearing the camp that has been resisting the destruction of land to be used for the 2032 Olympic Games.

For those unfamiliar with the situation, the Goori Camp Embassy has been maintaining a presence around a sacred fire in defence of Barambin, a sacred site for First Nations people across greater Brisbane. The camp has stood as a place of resistance to Olympic development planned for the area.

There is a red alert that police are now moving in to remove campers despite the presence of the sacred fire, which is protected under law.

If you are able to go to Barambin now to witness events on the ground, or to offer support in any way, please do so this weekend, 29 May – 2 June..

Background. Since 1972, Aboriginal resistance has taken the form of tent embassies. In the early years, aboriginal activists gained support from the Whitlam Government and a variety of different independent voices. Out of those struggles came the health services, Aboriginal legal aid, Aboriginal hostels, and the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action FAIRA.

Protest encampment was a big part of that legacy during the Bicentennial in 1988, and during the Commonwealth Games in 1982. This led to more housing and Murri watch in West End, South Brisbane, and community support in Redfern in Sydney and Fitzroy in Melbourne.

From 2012 to 2015, Aboriginal Sovereign grandmothers took over Jagera Hall in Musgrave Park from Brisbane City Council and provided support for people whose children had been stolen by DOCS. They began a food program run out of the men’s shed at Dutton Park with the help of independent political activists. Brisbane Blacks came back to the fire. But the LNP government tore down the embassy, doused the fire and tried to break the resistance over a period of 2 years. There were a number of court cases until Magistrate Callaghan recognised the cultural practice performed on the DOGIT by traditional owner Uncle Kevin Vieritz.

Musgrave Park was always a meeting place and a trading place. Aboriginal leaders like Uncle Sam Watson always maintained a good relationship with the Greeks in West End.

While there were some tensions cultivated by the LNP at the time of Panyiri, these were usually resolved, and the Greek community gave support to Aboriginal homeless people in the park in the form of food and showers.

Come forward to 2026. An LNP government is trying to ram through an Olympic Stadium in Barrambin (Victoria Park). As a child I played sport in that park. Efforts are being made to stop the stadium being constructed in that cultural place using heritage legislation and an appeal to the federal minister Murray Watt. These attempts are likely to fall on deaf ears, so strong is the lobby by developers in the inner city.

The politics of me. Annastacia Palaszczuk had been Labor’s long term leader who survived political mistake after mistake in Queensland, the biggest thing the privatization of Queensland Rail.

Her authority was undermined when she was forced to apologise for this economic disaster. Palaszczuk was forced to face the ignominy of having to stand before workers assembled on May Day and admit that her government had got it wrong in privatising Queensland Rail, promising it would never happen again.

Her premiership ended in conflict over the proposed Olympic stadium at the Gabba. Having made the stadium the centrepiece of her 2032 Olympic plan, she demanded Cabinet support for the project. When Cabinet, Weekend by the unpopularity of the proposal, refused to back her and called her bluff. Her position became untenable. Palaszczuk resigned and was replaced by Steven Miles from a different faction. His succession marked a clear shift within the government, but he failed to hold office and Labor went on to lose the following election to David Crisafulli’s LNP.

Goorie embassy attacked

In a perversion of the Olympic dream, Crisafulli’s backers have turned their attention to Aboriginal heritage, using their control of Brisbane City Council and the support of the Queensland Police Force to move against the resistance gathered around the sacred fire at Barambin.

Ian Curr, 30 May 2026