Freedom rides on - Local News - News
A group of high school students will set off from the University of
Sydney this Saturday to retrace the original Freedom Ride led by
Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins in 1965.
Thirty indigenous and non-indigenous students along with staff from
Youth Connections and the NSW Department of Education will retrace the
2300km journey through 21 NSW country towns to celebrate the significant
impact this expedition had on the identity of Aboriginal Australia.
Kevin “Gavi” Duncan, an Aboriginal elder of the Darkinjung community who
works for Koori Connect of Youth Connections, is the cultural adviser
for the 2011 Freedom Ride. His parents, Kevin and Coral Duncan, were
interviewed in Moree by the first Freedom Riders. His father was the
first qualified Aboriginal carpenter and had built a house on the edge
of town.
“At the time in Moree, Aboriginal people were not allowed into bars or
clubs, or the picture show or the local pool, which became very famous
in regards to the apartheid type treatment aboriginal people were
receiving,” Mr Duncan said.
“They were asked if they were having any trouble with non-Aboriginal
people about being Aboriginal and moving up into the town area, and my
dad said no, basically they were good neighbours and they didn’t have
any problems.”
Mr Duncan believes that the original Freedom Ride deserves recognition
as one of the most significant events in Australian political history, a
forerunner for improvements to the quality of life for Aboriginal people
and the 1967 referendum, which enabled Aboriginal people to be counted
in the national census and to be subject to Commonwealth laws, rather
than just state laws.
“By taking these 30 students, it’s opening their eyes, but also
hopefully sending a message Australiawide that we should not forget
about these significant changes in the political history of Australia,
and in Indigenous history,” he said.
He said the new Freedom Ride is going to be a positive experience that
will ask people to think about what the original ride represented and to
celebrate the freedoms discovered as a result.
The 2011 Freedom Ride will carry a message stick and will deliver it to
the Australian Government in the context of the latest national
referendum, announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard last year, on
whether Aboriginal Australians should be recognised in the Australian
constitution.
--
http://sydney-central.whereilive.com.au/news/story/freedom-rides-on/
Via InstaFetch
A group of high school students will set off from the University of
Sydney this Saturday to retrace the original Freedom Ride led by
Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins in 1965.
Thirty indigenous and non-indigenous students along with staff from
Youth Connections and the NSW Department of Education will retrace the
2300km journey through 21 NSW country towns to celebrate the significant
impact this expedition had on the identity of Aboriginal Australia.
Kevin “Gavi” Duncan, an Aboriginal elder of the Darkinjung community who
works for Koori Connect of Youth Connections, is the cultural adviser
for the 2011 Freedom Ride. His parents, Kevin and Coral Duncan, were
interviewed in Moree by the first Freedom Riders. His father was the
first qualified Aboriginal carpenter and had built a house on the edge
of town.
“At the time in Moree, Aboriginal people were not allowed into bars or
clubs, or the picture show or the local pool, which became very famous
in regards to the apartheid type treatment aboriginal people were
receiving,” Mr Duncan said.
“They were asked if they were having any trouble with non-Aboriginal
people about being Aboriginal and moving up into the town area, and my
dad said no, basically they were good neighbours and they didn’t have
any problems.”
Mr Duncan believes that the original Freedom Ride deserves recognition
as one of the most significant events in Australian political history, a
forerunner for improvements to the quality of life for Aboriginal people
and the 1967 referendum, which enabled Aboriginal people to be counted
in the national census and to be subject to Commonwealth laws, rather
than just state laws.
“By taking these 30 students, it’s opening their eyes, but also
hopefully sending a message Australiawide that we should not forget
about these significant changes in the political history of Australia,
and in Indigenous history,” he said.
He said the new Freedom Ride is going to be a positive experience that
will ask people to think about what the original ride represented and to
celebrate the freedoms discovered as a result.
The 2011 Freedom Ride will carry a message stick and will deliver it to
the Australian Government in the context of the latest national
referendum, announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard last year, on
whether Aboriginal Australians should be recognised in the Australian
constitution.
--
http://sydney-central.whereilive.com.au/news/story/freedom-rides-on/
Via InstaFetch
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