From Little Things (Big Things Grow) Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Paul Kelly was one of two writers to co-write this song. Who was the other?

Answer: Kev Carmody

Kev Carmody is an Indigenous writer. He was inducted into the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame in 2009.

2. How long did it take the people mentioned in the song to gain their landrights?

Answer: 8 years

From the lyrics:

"Gather round people let me tell you're a story
An eight year long story of power and pride
British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiarri
Were opposite men on opposite sides".

3. What was the name of the owner of the station where the fight for justice began?

Answer: Lord Vestey

Lord Vestey is described in the lyrics thus:

"Vestey was fat with money and muscle
Beef was his business, broad was his door".

The song was released in 1993.

4. What was the name of the Indigenous man who led the strike, according to the lyrics?

Answer: Vincent Lingiarri

From the lyrics:
"Vincent was lean and spoke very little
He had no bank balance, hard dirt was his floor".

Eddie Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander who advocated Indigenous land rights, and the other two mentioned are Indigenous musicians. There are several different spellings for Lingiarri, but as all Australian Indigenous languages are oral in origin, it's hard to say which is correct. In my own area, a word can be pronounced differently fifty kilometres apart. One example is the word for "spirit" which I pronounce "jannock" and 50 km east of here is pronounced "charnock".

5. The main cause of the walk off was that the workers were being paid only rations.

Answer: True

The initial issue was that they were working for rations *on land that they once owned - or as Aboriginal people say - owned them.*
This was the initial cause of the walkout - the land rights issue evolved from that.
"Gurindji were working for nothing but rations
Where once they had gathered the wealth of the land
Daily the pressure got tighter and tighter
Gurindji decided they must make a stand".

The land they had been working on would have belonged to them before European settlement, and they had lived well on it.

6. In the song, what was the name of the group of people making the land claim?

Answer: Gurindji

Again from the lyrics:

"Gurindji were working for nothing but rations
Where once they had gathered the wealth of the land
Daily the pressure got tighter and tighter
Gurindju decided they must make a stand".

7. Where did the workers go when they walked off the station?

Answer: Wattie Creek

The song states:

"They picked up their swags and started off walking
At Wattie Creek they sat themselves down".

The B-side of this single was "Freedom".

8. Where did their leader go to seek support?

Answer: Sydney

The lyrics:

"Then Vincent Lingiarri boarded an aeroplane
Landed in Sydney, big city of lights
And daily he went round softly speaking his story
To all kinds of men from all walks of life".

The song was produced by Alan Thorne and Paul Kelly.

9. What was the landowner's reaction to the claim?

Answer: Anger

"Vestey man said I'll double your wages
Seven quid a week you'll have in your hand
Vincent said uhuh we're not talking about wages
We're sitting right here till we get our land
Vestey man roared and Vestey man thundered
You don't stand the chance of a cinder in snow
Vince said if we fall others are rising".

10. After several years, the land claim was granted. How was Vincent told they had won?

Answer: A politician and lawyers came and told him

"Eight years went by, eight long years of waiting
Till one day a tall stranger appeared in the land
And he came with lawyers and he came with great ceremony
And through Vincent's fingers poured a handful of sand".

The song was first recorded in 1991.

Source: Author tezza1551

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Paul Kelly is one of my favourite Australian songwriters and singers, and this is one of my favourite songs. Test what you know about the song.

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