Uncle Ray Minniecon booed during Acknowledgement of Country at Sydney Anzac Day dawn service

A 24-year-old man has been arrested and thousands of people responded with a sustained round of applause after Kabi Kabi, Gurang Gurang and South Sea Islander Elder Uncle Ray Minniecon was booed during the Acknowledgement of Country at Sydney’s Anzac Day dawn service.

Pastor Minniecon, himself a veteran whose grandfather Private James Lingwoodock served with the 11th Light Horse Regiment during the Great War, was delivering the acknowledgement at the Martin Place Cenotaph on Saturday, 25 April 2026 when a small group in the crowd began heckling. The booing lasted for close to a minute. Pastor Minniecon continued through the disruption and was given extended applause by the thousands gathered along Martin Place when he finished.

NSW Police confirmed a 24-year-old man was arrested for an alleged act of nuisance during the service and that several other people were moved on. Booing also disrupted the Welcome to Country at the Melbourne dawn service, delivered by Bunurong Elder Uncle Mark Brown, with a smaller incident reported at the Adelaide service.

Pastor Minniecon, a Vietnam-era veteran and co-founder of the Coloured Digger Project in Redfern, addressed the disruption after the ceremony. “They should show respect to us as traditional owners” he said.

He added that those who took part in the heckling should “understand their place”, describing the experience as part of a long pattern. “We have experienced this type of racism for over 230-odd years” he said. “It really is a whitefella problem, not a Blackfella problem.”

RSL NSW acting president, retired Brigadier Vince Williams, apologised to Pastor Minniecon on behalf of the organisation and described the hecklers as “louts”. “I’m pretty convinced that none of the bunch of louts who were booing have ever done anything constructive for our nation” Brigadier Williams said.

Brigadier Williams noted that Pastor Minniecon’s family had contributed to the defence of the nation from the First World War through to the present day. He said the spontaneous applause that followed the acknowledgement reflected the true spirit of Anzac Day.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles said the booing was “deeply disgraceful” and noted that Indigenous Australians had been a critical part of the Australian Defence Force throughout the nation’s military history. He referenced Captain Reg Saunders, the first Aboriginal person commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army, who served in the Korean War.

NSW Premier Chris Minns and opposition leader Kellie Sloane were among those attending the service alongside NSW Governor Margaret Beazley. The Coloured Digger March later stepped off from Redfern, as it has done annually since 2008, two years after Pastor Minniecon co-founded the Coloured Digger Project in 2006.