Dennis Walker

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Dennis Walker, also known as Bejam Kunmunara Jarlow Nunukel Kabool, is an Australian activist born December 1946.

The son of poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) from Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island, Southern Queensland) and Bruce Walker, Dennis Walker was a major figure in the civil rights and land rights movements of the 1970s.

A tireless activist for the cause of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, he continues to carry on the work of his mother, Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal, custodian of the land Minjerriba, and one of Australia's most famous writers and poets.

Dennis Walker co-founded the Australian Black Panther Party in the 1970s, as well as the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. In 1993, during a government raid intended to remove the illegal camp, Walker assaulted a police officer. He was subsequently arrested on criminal charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.

His mother wrote the poem Son of Mine for him when he was a young boy. The poem foresees a time when the "lives of black and white entwine". In keeping with this and Oodgeroo's "Don't hate, educate!" philosophy, Walker established the "Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal, custodian of the land Minjerriba, peace, prosperity and healing, Sacred TREATY Circles".The poem emphasises that bad things has been goin on in the aboriginal countries and if she should tell her son of what is going on.

In response to Aboriginal deaths in custody, Walker was a driving force in the development of the cultural heritage education program which began in Boggo Road Gaol. He asserts that the treaty process is the next step of the struggle for survival, not just for Aboriginal Australia but for all people.