Dear Editor,
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It's great to see Moree Plains Shire Council recognise what I believe to be an important part in the whole course of the Aboriginal struggle and Australian political history.
Moree at the time was what Charles Perkins described as Australia's own little rock in comparison to an American town from the American Freedom Rides.
Moree changed the political world of Australia to this day in relation to how governments treat Aboriginal people in this country.
I myself born and bred in Moree know for a fact the struggles we endured growing up in a segregated town.
Charles Perkins and the Freedom Riders came to my Mother and Father’s house in 1965 as Dad was one of the first Aboriginal people to build a house off the reserves and missions which challenged the blatant segregated laws of the time even to the point of the ABC Television coming to document their audacity.
In 2011, I led a group of Aboriginal kids from the Central Coast in the reenactment of the 1965 Freedom Rides and what we found on that journey that nothing much has changed in towns in regards to the equality and inclusion of Aboriginal people in the economy of those towns.
There’s still a great struggle happening with our people we can't hide or sweep these things under the carpet they need to be addressed such as land rights, sovereignty, compensation, native title, justice, equality, health, education this list goes on.
The 1965 Freedom Ride which took place I believe is bigger than Mabo, bigger than the referendum, it should be recognised as a significant event in Australian history it did change the political course of this country and Moree was the biggest part of that history.
Remember the truth must not only be the truth, but it must be told.
Kevin Duncan (Jnr)
Moree