Charles Perkins 1936 - 2000
Perkins graduating from Sydney University
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Born near Alice Springs, his mother was a member of the Arrernte people and his father was a white man. At 10 he went to school in Adelaide run by the Anglican Church. He did not enjoy his time here |
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Perkins worked as a labourer and then had a successful carreer as a soccer player for Liverpool and Manchester United in England. He then moved back to Sydney to to study at Sydney University and in 1966 he became the first Aboriginal Australian to gain a university degree. Perkins then worked as an activist for the cause of Aboriginal rights. 1968 he joined the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and became head of the Department in 1984, resigning in 1988. |
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The Freedom Ride
While he was a student at Sydney University, Perkins and some of his fellow students wanted to highlight the hardships and abuse faced by Aboriginal Australians in country NSW. He then formed Student Action for Aborigines protest group. In 1965, they hired a bus and travelled throughout country NSW to highlight discrimination that existed in rural NSW.
- On the 12 February 1965, Charles Perkins set off with 28 others on a 14 day Freedom Ride around country NSW.
- The 1965 Freedom ride was aimed to raise awareness of discrimination against Aboriginal people and try to redress it.
- They targeted towns that had a reputation for being racist such as Moree and Kempsey.
- Charles Perkins caused great upheaval in the towns he visited however achieved his goal in raising awareness.
Walgett incident: The aim of this visit was to allow Aboriginal people entrance into the local RSL club. Even those servicemen who fought in the war were denied entry, causing great separation in the community. The Freedom Riders held up posters outside the club and Perkins addressed the crowd to convince the committee members to change their policies. The bus was then followed by a line of cars and trucks leading it out of the town, getting forced off the road by a truck.
Moree incident: Moree laws prohibited anyone with Aboriginal blood or colouring to use artesian baths and swimming pools. After a large crowd thered and an hour of protesting the manager and local mayor came up with an answer: The children were allowed in as long as they were ‘clean’. The freedom riders then left Moree thinking they had overturned the ban. However the ban was re-imposed and caused great upheaval in the town. The bus was back and 500 angry locals shouted abuse, threw tomatoes, rotten eggs and spat at them. "Mr Jim Spigelman, a 19-year-old student from Maroubra, was smaked to the groound while the 500-strong crowd roared its approval." This confrontation caused great press coverage and television coverage.
Watch these two videos before you complete the activities
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