Robert "Robbie" Thorpe is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

activist and presenter of ''Fire First'', a program on community radio station 3CR in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Early life and family

Thorpe is from the Krautungalung people of the Gunnai Nation and is uncle of Senator

Lidia Thorpe Lidia Alma Thorpe (born 1973) is an Australian politician representing the Australian Greens. She has been a senator for Victoria since 2020, and is the first Aboriginal senator from that state. From June to October 2022, she served as the Gre ...

Activism

Thorpe has campaigned for

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

solutions in Australia since the 1970s. He is an advocate for Pay The Rent, an Indigenous initiative set up to provide an independent economic resource for Aboriginal peoples, and the

Aboriginal Passport An Aboriginal passport refers to various travel documents issued by the self-declared Aboriginal Provisional Government (APG), an indigenous Australian group. Such documents are not recognized as valid by the Australian government or its Australia ...

initiative. Inspired by

Bruce McGuinness Bruce Brian McGuinness (17 June 1939 – 5 September 2003) was an Australian Aboriginal activist. He was active in and led the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, and is known for founding and running ''The Koorier'', which was the first Ab ...

' newspaper ''The Koorier'' (1968–1971), Thorpe founded and ran the publication ''The Koorier 2''PDF
/ref> during the 1970s and 1980s, and later ''The Koorier 3'', published by the Koori Information Centre. In 1982, Thorpe challenged the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in a case entitled ''Thorpe V Commonwealth'' for not protecting people from crimes connected to

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

. Since 2020, Robbie has been working on a court case to charge

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

for crimes against humanity.

Radio and film

Robbie initiated the 3CR's ''Fire First'' program with Clare Land, after appearing on her ''Tuesday Breakfast'' program with his comrade Fantom. Between 2005 and 2006 ''Fire First'' supported and fed into the Black GST (Genocide, Sovereignty, Treaty) Collective,. a campaign to end genocide, recognise Australian Aboriginal Sovereignty and make

Treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...

, that protested at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

. In 2006, ''Fire First'' presented several live broadcasts and a daily update from

Camp Sovereignty Camp Sovereignty is the name given to an Indigenous Australian protest movement established to publicise the "Black GST" political group. The "GST" reflects the group's aims of ending genocide, acknowledging sovereignty and securing a peace trea ...

. Thorpe has produced numerous videos to support campaigns and campaigners, including advice videos for pro-Indigenous white activists in Australia with fellow activist

Gary Foley Gary Edward Foley (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian activist of the Gumbainggir people, academic, writer and actor. He is best known for his role in establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972 and for establishing an Abo ...

. These videos are aimed at non-Indigenous people seeking to act in solidarity with

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

peoples. Thorpe's speeches and interviews are frequently captured on news and for activist films and he has starred in hip hop videos and other creative productions. Thorpe's own story is being captured in a new

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, directed and produced by Anthony Kelly, entitled ''Our Warrior: The Story of Robbie Thorpe''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe, Robert (Robbie) Living people Australian radio presenters Year of birth missing (living people)