MORE than 100 people gathered at the library on Monday to view the information displays erected by staff on the Freedom Ride.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Librarian, Tracey Towney, was given the responsibly of organising the display, and said it was a great thing to see so many people interested in it.
“One of the students who took part in the Freedom Ride, now professor Ann Curthoys, kept a dairy she wrote while on the ride. Extracts from Ann’s diary are on display,” she said.
Along with extracts of Ann’s diary, there are Aboriginal resource books, pictures and the Freedom Ride movie playing at the front of the library.
“I think it has been good for non-Aboriginal people and Aboriginal people to view because a lot of them know what the Freedom Ride was but didn’t know what actually happened during the trip,” Ms Towney said.
She said the ride in NSW was inspired by the Freedom Ride of the USA in 1961.
“This led to a rise in consciousness in Australia about civil rights for Aboriginal people. Charles Perkins, an Arrernte man from Alice Springs in the Nothern Territory, was the first Aboriginal person to attend the University of Sydney,” she said.
“He spoke with his fellow students about what they could do to bring civil rights issues to the attention of the Australian public.”
Shortly after, a group of 29 students from the university went on a bus trip to a number of towns in NSW including Gulargambone, Walgett, Moree, Boggabilla, Kempsey and Bowraville.
“The purpose of the bus trip was to investigate race relations in country towns and living conditions of Aboriginal people on reserves, missions and in the towns,” Ms Towney said.
“Two years after the Freedom Ride in the national referendum of 1967, the Australian people voted overwhelmingly in favour of removing the state control over the way indigenous people were governed and treated. There was a 90.77 per cent ‘yes’ vote for the Aborigines and this eventually led to many needed reforms at federal level,” she said.
One of the outcomes from the reforms was the decrease in social gap and discriminatory barriers between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
“A great example of this outcome was the accomplishment of the removal of the swimming pool ban in Moree. This removal meant Aboriginal people and white people would share one public facility,” Ms Towney said.
The display will be open for public viewing for the rest of the week.
