sea of hands (alexis)

The Sea of Hands is ANTaR's primary public education initiative and Australia's largest public art installation. The Sea of Hands has been installed in every major city and many regional locations throughout Australia, and continues to gather signatures everywhere it appears.


About sea of hands:

Over 300,000 Australians have signed their names on one of 120,000 plastic hands that make up the Sea of Hands, to show their support for Native Title and Reconciliation.
The Sea of Hands was created in 1997 as a powerful, physical representation of the Citizen's Statement on Native Title.
The Citizen's Statement was a petition circulated by ANTaR to mobilise non-Indigenous support for native title and reconciliation, at a time when native title rights were under serious threat from the Howard Government's proposed changes to the Native Title Act 1993 (see our page on Native Title).
Plastic hands in the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, each one carrying one signature from the Citizen's Statement, were installed in front of Parliament House in Canberra in October 1997, in what was then the largest public art installation in Australia.
The Sea of Hands has become a symbol of the People's Movement for reconciliation - and a tangible recognition of the failure of the Howard Government to lead Australia in the reconciliation process.


Aboriginal performer Djakapurra Munyarryun plays the didjeridoo amid the "Sea of Hands" on Sydney's Bondi Beach, symbolizing reconciliation between Aborigines and white Australians.

sea of hands history:

the sea of hands was preceded by a petition in 1997.

The idea of a field of white hands in rows was considered such as the white crosses in war cemeteries.

the colors of the hands represent the color of aboriginal flags.

black represents the aboriginal people

red represents the Australian ground