Freedom Ride (Australia)

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The Freedom Ride of 1964 and 1965 was a significant event in the history of civil rights for Indigenous Australians.

Inspired by the Freedom Riders of the American Civil Rights Movement, students from Sydney University formed a group called the Student Action for Aboriginals, led by Charles Perkins (the first Australian Aborigine to graduate tertiary education) among others, and traveled into New South Wales country towns on what some of them considered a fact-finding mission. What they encountered was de facto segregation; the students protested, picketed, and faced violence, raising the issue of Indigenous Affairs. They commonly stood protesting for hours at segregated areas such as pools, parks and pubs which raised a mixed reception among the country towns. Australia overwhelmingly passed a 1967 referendum removing discriminatory sections from the Australian Constitution and compelling the Federal government to take further action.

At the time of the Freedom Ride in 1965, the Aboriginal people of Australia were not counted in the Census and their rights as citizens were regularly ignored; indeed they claimed that they were considered lesser human beings because of the colour of their skin, and treated this way as well.

The Freedom Riders were: Charles Perkins, Gary Williams, Aidan Foy, Alan Outhred, Alex Mills, Ann Curthoys, Barry Corr, Beth Hansen, Bob Gallagher, Brian Aarons, Chris Page, Colin Bradford, Darce Cassidy, David Pepper, Derek Molloy, Hall Greenland, Helen Gray, Jim Spigelman, John Butterworth, John Gowdie, John Powles, Judith Rich, Louise Higham, Machteld Hali, Norm Mackay, Paddy Dawson, Pat Healy, Ray Leppik, Rick Collins, Robyn Iredale, Sue Johnston, Sue Reeves, Warwick Richards and Wendy Golding.^[1]