Research Paper On The Freedom Ride Of 1965

The main intention of the Freedom Ride of 1965 was to raise awareness of discrimination against Aboriginal people and to try and generate a movement for change in Australia. The Freedom Ride is significant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people because the key aims were to improve the level of health, education and living standards of Aboriginal people, including the desegregation of public facilities in regional towns such as Walgett and Moree. The Freedom Ride adopted the non-violent, direct philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr’s US Civil Rights movement. Whilst change did not come immediately, the Freedom Ride contributed to other events which made significant changes to Aboriginal people, such as the 1967 Referendum which acknowledged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s right to be included in the census and to be considered citizens in their own country.

Before the Freedom Ride occurred, Aboriginal people did not have the same rights as other Australians.

“In the sixties in Australia if you were born Aboriginal, by law you couldn't marry without permission, eat in a restaurant, enter a pub, swim in a public pool or vote” (Charles Perkins, 1993). White people in Australia were largely ignorant of the needs of Aborigines. In 1965, Charles Perkins (the first Indigenous person to graduate from university) led other students in a campaign across the country to reveal segregation and the ignorant treatment of Aboriginal people by by white Australians. Perkins directly states his objective in ‘Blood Brothers’ made by his daughter, Rachel Perkins, was to make sure that the initiative was successful. The Freedom Riders used non-violent direct action (like protests) in the towns to challenge acts of racial

discrimination.
The Freedom Ride was led by Charles Perkins. Perkins and some students made up a group called SAFA (Student Action For Aboriginals). They left behind their own homes in Sydney and headed out to the rural towns in NSW. Some of the towns that they visited were Moree, Walgett, Tenterfield and about 22 other towns in New South Wales. Traditionally, rural towns were the areas that disliked change. The students were appalled by the lack of rights and freedom that they witnessed for Aboriginal people in these towns. “In the towns, Aboriginal people were routinely barred from clubs, swimming pools and cafes. They were frequently refused drinks in hotels” (Taffe, S 2008). The students protested against how the local people were treating the Indigenous people. This brought about significant conflict with the citizens of these towns who rose up and drove the Freedom Riders out of town.

One of the Riders, Anne Curthoys, highlighted that the Australian Freedom Ride was inspired by the Freedom Rides in USA when she said, “So with King’s philosophy of non-violent direct action firmly in our heads, our tour all planned, we set off” (Curthoys 2002). King’s philosophy of non-violent direct action involves peaceful protests. It was first used in the demonstrations mounted by the Association of Immigration Reform and Student Action against the 1958 Migration Act, which had extended the life of the White Australian Policy. It was used again in the youth campaigns against the Vietnam War and military conscription. One of the most notable protests in the Freedom Ride was at Moree, where there was segregation happening. The Riders brought Aboriginal children from nearby reserves and attempted to assist them in the local swimming pool (which had a race-based ban). Unfortunately, some of the local citizens did not like this. The Freedom Riders were driven out of Walgett and were faced with violent abuse by the locals in Moree. But with this, their objective (to make the rest of Australia aware of discrimination) was beginning to take shape. The media and reporters helped them tell the rest of Australia about how bad the discrimination is in rural parts of NSW.
The Freedom Ride (and the publicity it obtained) did raise awareness of discrimination and catalysed later campaigns to eliminate such discrimination. Anne Curthoys supported this in her 2002 speech to the National Museum “…many Freedom Riders had continued an engagement with Indigenous people throughout their lives. They had not simply passed through, and they had not forgotten what they had learnt… The Freedom Rides had been an important aspect of the moral formation of a generation.” Cabinet papers did show that the Freedom Ride may have also had some effect on the Government. The summary of theses papers make it obvious that members of the Cabinet were aware that the Freedom Ride had cast light on discrimination in NSW. In the next 6 months, this would cause the Attorney General to “… conclude that it [the government] should hold a referendum to empower it to amend section 51 (xxvi) of the Constitution so that it could implement its policy to the advantage of the Aboriginal people” (Taffe S, 2008).
The Freedom Rides were historically significant for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people because they led to the Referendum of 1967 and other events which contributed to the ongoing struggle to bring about equality between all Australians, Indigenous and white.