Dennis Walker

Who is Dennis Walker?

Denis Walker, also known as Bejam Kunmunara Jarlow Nunukel Kabool, is an Australian activist.

He was the son of poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal from Minjerribah and Bruce Walker. Hehad a younger brother.

Dennis Walker was a major figure in the civil rights and land rights movements of the 1970s.

Denis Walker co-founded, with Sam Watson, the Brisbane chapter of the Australian Black Panther Party on 1972-01-08. At the time, Walker declared the BPP to be "the vanguard for all depressed people, and in Australia the Aboriginals are the most depressed of all".

Walker's stance on political violence was similar to the stance taken by other BPP and BPP-derived movements around the world. In a directive to members of the ABPP he said that "members must learn to use an service weapons correctly". In January 1972, having himself been in court only a few days beforehand on the charge of possessing a concealable firearm, he told reporters that "if you haven't got a gun, you have nothing. We're not going to get what we want by standing here and talking.". The following March, in an address to the student union of Melbourne University, he contrasted the Australian BPP's position with that of the American BPP, saying that the Australian BPP's priority was not violent revolution, and that its focus was land rights rather than urban issues. As such, he asserted that the Australian BPP was prepared to use guns to back Aboriginal action over land rights, arguing that Aborigines should have the right to carry guns for self-defence.