The Freedom Ride in Australia in 1965 was led by Uncle Charlie Perkins and his fellow students at the University of Sydney. It was a significant event that drew national and international attention to the poor living conditions faced by Aboriginal people and the rife racism that was in New South Wales country towns.
A brief account of the story:
“We were just teenage kids, having a bit of fun till we got up there & found out it was something different.”
“Uncle Charlie (Charles Perkins) was the university’s first indigenous graduate & had set us on a two-week “Freedom Ride” through northern New South Wales to challenge the racism & discrimination in regional Australia. We were thrilled!
Many Australians believed it was just an issue that exists overseas.
I’d faced my share of discrimination before, but nothing prepared any of us for what was to come.
As our bus ventured through NSW, angry crowds of local whites waited for us at various points, hurling abuse. Fights broke out, students were pelted with rocks & eggs… We could have used those eggs but anyway.
We were run out of town in Walgett & our bus was forced off the road & into a ditch after a protest outside a Returned & Services League club that refused membership for indigenous ex-servicemen.
The clashes started making headlines across the country. A wake-up call for many Australians.
In Moree, tension centered on a public swimming pool. As we tried to enter, the growing crowd was waiting to enforce the ‘Indigenous ban’ at the pools & its many racist policies. We held up our posters & signs. The event gained national attention. Uncle Charlie was thrust into the spotlight.
With pressure mounting, the boys were eventually let in. Uncle Charlie then arrived with a busload of 21 other Aboriginal boys adding to our 6, they too had to be let in. Words couldn’t describe the feeling that fell upon us when they were… maybe it felt like freedom.
The Freedom Ride was a turning point in Australia’s black-white relations, & it helped win a “Yes” vote at a landmark 1967 referendum to finally include indigenous people in Australia’s official population count.
Unfortunately, 50+ years on there’s still plenty more work to be done…”
“What we gave Aboriginal people in the towns we visited was hope. We stirred their imagination, their desire for human rights.”
(Sources: Guardian. NFSA)
