ipl-logo

What Is Charles Perkins's Role In The Changing Rights And Freedoms Of Indigenous Australians

777 Words4 Pages

Charles Perkins

Charles Perkins was essential in the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians in the period 1945 until the present. Charles Perkins is an Aboriginal activist who was involved in the Freedom Rides while he was a third year arts student at the University of Sydney and the president of SAFA, Student Action for Aborigines. Through his role leading the Freedom Rides, he helped to desegregate public facilities in country towns, improved housing conditions and made White Australia in city areas aware of the discrimination and racism present in country towns. This led to being involved in politics and had numerous roles within the government. Perkins was known as an activist involved in Aboriginal organisations and made …show more content…

Perkins was a university student at this time and became the president of the Student Action for Aborigines. By being the president of SAFA, he was able to organise a civil rights campaign of western and coastal New South Wales country towns in February 1965. This was also known as the Freedom Rides of Australia as it was based off another civil rights movement in the United States of America in 1961. Throughout these rides, Perkins and his group travelled to Moree on 19 February 1965. The town of Moree was known for their racial discrimination against Aboriginal Australians as there was a council law which forbids Indigenous Australians from entering the pools and baths situated there after school hours. It wasn’t only the pools that they were forbidden to enter, they also weren’t allowed to enter the picture theatre, footy oval and RSL. Therefore, the Freedom Riders needed to help the Aboriginals to improve their rights. They did this by preventing anyone from entering by blocking the front entrance. After they protested, Charles Perkins discussed these problems with the police, pool managers and the local council. This was a success as the Council Law “That persons appearing to have Aboriginal blood be excluded from the bathe” was revoked. After this event, Charles Perkins and the Freedom

Show More
Related
198 Words | 1 Pages

Charles Perkins: Early Years • Aboriginal activist and Aboriginal leader • Charles (Charlie) Perkins was born at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Aboriginal Reserve in the Northern Territory in 1936. His parents were Arrente and Kalkadoon people. Removed from the Reserve at the age of 10 he was sent to a home for boys in Adelaide where he completed his schooling. • Between 1952 and 1957, Perkins worked as an apprentice fitter and turner for the British Tube Mills company in Adelaide • By the age of 21, Charles was one of the highest-paid soccer players in Adelaide. • Charles left Adelaide to pursue his soccer career in England.

Read More
425 Words | 2 Pages

Did you know that before the civil rights movement, there were not only public rules about what colored people can do, but there were also laws passed that kept colored people from being wholly part of society? Jackie Robinson was arrested once because he argued over one of these laws with an officer (McBirney). Though everybody remembers Jackie Robinson as the first African American to play on the Major League Baseball, this wasn’t everything he did. Jackie Robinson contributed to the Civil Right Movement by breaking the color barrier in sports, getting white people to root for him, and standing strong in the face of racism in order to deliver his message.

Read More
962 Words | 4 Pages

After the Holt government announced on February 23 1967, a referendum to amend sections 51 and 127 of the constitution, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders used pamphlets and posters to campaign for a Yes vote. The ‘Right Wrongs, Write Yes’ poster in particular was a key factor in its appeal to a sense of justice in white Australians to vote yes, specifically in its use of appealing indigenous children (NMA,

Read More
1001 Words | 5 Pages

The original 'Freedom Rides' in the American South were a series of student political protests that took the form of bus journeys through the southern states. Student volunteers, both African American and white, rode interstate into the pro-segregationist south, to bring awareness to and fight for person of colours rights. This eventually led to violent protest and hostility that additionally increased public awareness of racism in society through this intensive media coverage. Due to international coverage, protests in support of the Civil Rights movement occurred in Australia as well, supporting the Civil Rights Bill that was being considered by the United States

Read More
1159 Words | 5 Pages

These aims were elaborated in the document, “The People’s Charter”. Many of the democratic ideas found in the People’s Charter are at the root of the contemporary Australian democratic system and were fundamental to the political movements and reforms the Eureka Stockade inspired. Having had former involvement in the Chartism movement of Britain, many immigrants to the Victorian goldfields were already familiar with this democratic ideology. With the growing opposition to the miners’ licence, shortly before the construction of the Eureka Stockade, 10,000 miners met to protest in support of these adopted Chartist principles and the abolition of the mining tax. This meeting led to the creation of the manifesto document, the “Ballarat Reform League Charter”.

Read More
317 Words | 2 Pages

Charles Perkins played a major role in the Freedom Ride in order to shape Australian society from the 1960’s onwards. His key role in the Freedom Ride allowed him to successfully advocate for the desegregation of Australian institutions and towns as well as to reduce the amount of discrimination against Indigenous Australians. He endeavoured to make a change in Australian society, and wanted to expose the true nature of discrimination and segregation against Indigenous Australians. He wanted to gain the rights and freedom for his people, and effectively achieved those goals. Therefore, Charles Perkins did play a major role in the Freedom Ride from the 1960’s onwards, resulting in the improvement of Australian society.

Read More
603 Words | 3 Pages

The Greensboro Sit-Ins You are one of the many people to enter your local Woolworth’s to join the protests. That was a very common situation in February of 1960. Sit-Ins became a highly influential factor in Civil Rights. They were created and popularized in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960, during the Greensboro Sit-Ins. The Greensboro Sit-Ins were a series of protests led by four young black college students that were committed to equality in civil rights.

Read More
419 Words | 2 Pages

In 1957, I and fellow activist Jessie Street launched a petition in support of the referendum culminating in the 1967 victory. In 1974, I decided to direct my energies to the plight of my own people, the 16,000 descendants of South Sea Islanders. I founded the National Commission for Australian South Sea Islanders and, in 1975, made my first emotional journey to my father’s birthplace on

Read More
931 Words | 4 Pages

The people who were against segregation and promoted civil rights helped to accomplish what we call today, an integrated society. During the Civil Rights Revolution, there were many prominent figures such as Jackie Robinson, the first major league baseball player who influenced the court’s decision to integrate society. Not only did Jackie Robinson play major league baseball, but he also ran track, played basketball and football. He played these college sports at UCLA, USC and Pasadena Junior College, which are predominately white colleges. Even though Robinson was black he was still desired on college teams because he possessed amazing talent.

Read More
3875 Words | 16 Pages

John Lewis, who is now known as a “Big Six” civil rights leader, joined The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Freedom Rides in 1961. The Freedom Rides’ purpose was to challenge the poorly enforced decision of the Supreme Court, which ruled segregated buses unconstitutional (Arsenault 4). The start of John Lewis’s career in the African American civil rights movement was as a very young activist. He led sit-ins and adored Martin Luther King. Lewis referred to him as “the person who, more than any other, continued to influence my life, who made me who I was” (Lewis 412).

Read More
652 Words | 3 Pages

The constant booing and jeering of the crowds were what Stan Grant referred to as ‘’howls of humiliation’’. It was an unmistakable act of shaming and discrimination towards indigenous people; it was an implication that they are not meant to be a part of the great Australian Dream.

Read More
598 Words | 3 Pages

Canada is known for its amazing healthcare and it is considered one of the best in the world. In Canada, healthcare is ‘universal’ to its citizens under the Heath Care Act. However, not everyone has equal access to healthcare, Aboriginals being some of them. Aboriginals have trouble getting the access they need because of socio-economic status, geography, lack of infrastructure and staff, language or cultural barriers an more. Aboriginals on reserve face many barriers when it comes to access to healthcare, they include cost, language, distance, climate, education and more.

Read More
1494 Words | 6 Pages

From the Revolution to our contemporary world, freedom has been America's mightiest force for cultural development and motivated numerous powerful events. Eric Foner views freedom not as a record of facts but as a possession which has been debated greatly for its elasticity throughout American history. Foner’s text “Give Me Liberty” depicts freedom to have been constructed not only in politics and authorized environments but also by depicting struggle to achieve the rights of African Americans, women, the working class and immigrants. Injustice and freedom can only be comprehended retroactively, when looking back at the past, and is difficult to understand it while you’re in that era. It all comes down to the fundamental history of America

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

Ross’ story is told in a structurally unique way through Kennedy’s pen and with the theme of courage resonating throughout. Ross makes the decision to sacrifice his political career for the sake of saving the country of what ironically the Anti-Slavery radical Republicans were fighting so hard to vote against; freedom. Without his descriptive detail in his use of words, phrases and quotes, it’s message would be difficult to replicate. Without his subtle but significant use of rhetorical devices, he would never have able to persuade the audience to join Ross’ cause without even telling them his motives. Kennedy writes in a way which keeps the reader on the edge of confusion and enthrallment for Edmund G. Ross.

Read More
780 Words | 4 Pages

Could you ever possibly imagine a time where you couldn’t use the same bathroom as some of your classmates because the had a different skin color? This time in history was known as the Civil Rights Movement, a movement from 1954-1954, in which people fought against racism. Although the Civil Rights Movement mainly affected African Americans, but involved all of American society. Because most racism against ancient African Americans took place in southern United States, civil rights was extremely important to African Americans who lived in the south. Racism was so widely spread it even found its way into professional sports.

Read More

More about What Is Charles Perkins's Role In The Changing Rights And Freedoms Of Indigenous Australians

Related Topics

Open Document