While many Australians mark 26 January with celebrations, fireworks and reflections on what it means to be Australian; most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders mark the day with assertions of survival, calls for recognition and reminders of their human rights.

Forty years ago, at 1am on 26 January 1972, a beach umbrella was planted in the lawns of the Australian Parliament (now the Old Parliament House in Canberra) by four Aboriginal men: Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bertie Williams and Tony Coorey.

A cardboard placard with the words 'Aboriginal Embassy' accompanied the umbrella - and so began the Aboriginal Tent Embassy which is now hailed as one of the longest-running Aboriginal demonstrations in Australian history.

The seemingly humble set-up symbolised the need to recognise Aboriginal land rights within Australia as the Government of the time was not willing to acknowledge Aboriginal title to land based on traditional heritage and association.

In fact, the McMahon Government - in an astoundingly tactless and insensitive announcement timed to go to print on 26 January 1972 - announced that the recognition of Aboriginal land rights was to be replaced with a system whereby Aboriginal people could apply for a lease for their land.

This was at a time when the calls for Aboriginal land rights were building momentum and respectful, mutual recognition of Aboriginal existence needed to be addressed within Australian law.

Only six months prior to the raising of the Embassy's beach umbrella, the Gurindji People walked off Wave Hill cattle station in a protest of the pitiful wages they received and the lack of respect afforded to their inherent land rights.

Similarly, the disenfranchisement of the Yolgnu people in the 'Nabalco case' of 1971 - where the Supreme Court rejected their assertion of customary law against bauxite mining on their lands - fuelled frustrations among Indigenous communities nationwide.

The establishment of the Tent Embassy gained much attention from politicians, police, the media; Indigenous Peoples from across the country; and non-Indigenous Peoples alike; and is widely recognised as the most symbolic political action of Indigenous Australia.

In 2012, as we find ourselves in 'post-apology' Australia, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy remains as a symbol of the unfinished business of the Australian Government and the need to respect, uphold and enshrine the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the first peoples of Australia.

While the Australian Government doesn't officially recognise the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, there is no denying that the Embassy’s existence and symbolism highlights the dire need for the Australian Government to reflect on the history, heritage and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.