Dubbo Indigenous elder Joe Flick re-enacted a 1920s brutality protest by Indigenous man Anthony Fernando in London

Dubbo's Indigenous elder Joe Flick flew to London this week to re-enact a century-ago protest by Anthony Fernando on injustices inflicted on their people but sadly, he was ignored.

"It was a sparse crowd and no one stopped," Mr Flick, a member of the local Aboriginal Land Council, told the Daily Liberal in an overseas phone interview.

"Which was fine, I felt quite fine as I believed that I achieved what I set out to do nearly 100 years ago after [Anthony] Fernando's protest."

Mr Fernando, born in Sydney in 1864 to an Aboriginal woman, is believed to be a distant relative of Mr Flick through his great-grandmother, Adeline Woods, who married George Fernando.

Mr Flick's sister, Barbara Flick, said they are continuing their research of the family's history to find out more about Mr Fernando's early life.

Mr Fernando fled Sydney by boat to Europe in 1887 after testifying against two white men accused of killing Aboriginal people.

By the 1920s, according to historian Heather Goodall's account in the Land Rights News in September 1988, Mr Fernando made it to London and would "take up a stand each day outside Australia House to protest the brutality of the British in Australia".

Ms Goodall's account also said Mr Fernando, who eked a living making toys, was arrested several times because he was "an embarrassment to the Australian High Commission".

The Australian government attempted to send him to an asylum but a doctor intervened and declared Mr Fernando was not insane as his actions showed he only "holds strong views about the manner in which his people are treated - not a sign of insanity but of an unusually strong mind".

Aboriginal activist Pearl Gibbs compiled the news clippings of Mr Fernando's trials and activities in London widely reported by the media in Australia.

Mr Fernando's biography has been the subject of historian Fiona Paisley's book published in 2012, The Lone Protester, that Mr Flick carried with him to show to passersby as he stood in the same spot outside The Strand where Mr Fernando aired his protest publicly.

While expressing his disappointment that he was also snubbed by the office of the acting High Commissioner, Lynette Wood, Mr Flick said he was confident the wider Indigenous community would not be deterred from further exposing "pockets of issues that need to be addressed" on reconciliation and push for a referendum on voice in parliament.

Before standing outside Australia House on Thursday morning, Mr Flick said he has again contacted Ms Wood's office about his re-enactment of Mr Fernando's protest.

"I have written to [the acting High Commissioner] but haven't received correspondence back ... I can't see them saying no because any community member is free to go out, say something and stand somewhere," he said.

"I think doing this commemoration would be seen as my right as an Australian Aboriginal man who came to commemorate what Fernando did so many years ago."

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According to the Australian High Commission's website, Ms Wood is holding the office since April 2022 until former Labor MP and cabinet minister Stephen Smith who represented Perth WA assumes the role early next year.

"I think the prime minister [Anthony Albanese] would support what I am doing ... I think they would say he has a democratic right to do what he believes in," Mr Flick added.

But while discussions on the referendum continue, Mr Flick said he urges Australians, both who argue for and against changing the constitution to recognise the Indigenous people, "to understand and gain knowledge about Fernando, who he was, what he was and what he stood for".

"What I am doing is standing out at the front of Australia House wearing a shirt with small toy skeletons which Fernando had worn and acknowledging the deeds and actions he took on those days," he said.

"It is to say, mate you have never been forgotten.

"I'd say to people that from what I saw a long time ago, think before you speak and read before you think.

"I encourage people to read The Lone Protester to see what this man did."