History: Struggles for rights and freedoms

Bob Dylan's anthem, capturing the mood of social change in 1960s USA.

Inspired by an incident where Cooke and his entourage were turned away from a "whites only" motel.

An African American spiritual which was used as a protest and union song in the Civil Rights Movement.

Nine Simone's Civil Rights anthem was banned in several Southern states.

1997 government report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s.

This timeline details the history of forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families. Contains links to government responses and fact sheets.

Here are primary sources (photos) from people who protested against Aborigines exclusion from receiving the pension or unemployment benefits.

Shirley Andrews was a white Australian who saw equal wages for Aborigines and the rest of Australians as a basic right, so she set up the Equal Wages for Aborigines Committee. Children were taken from their parents in missions because of their parent's poverty (due to low wages). Such forced removal inspired Archie Roach's song 'They took the children away'.

The Queensland Trust Fund was a law that meant Aborigines in Queensland could not manage their own money, the government decided when and how they accessed it.

An account of the famous walk off and subsequent land rights claim that instigated reform. This protest inspired the song 'From little things big things grow'.

This article appears in the Green Left Weekly, a Socialist magazine, so there is a left wing bias. However it is a very comprehensive history of the Indigenous rights movement.

Gough Whitlam was a progressive leader who supported sweeping changes to Australian culture. These changes were in line with 60's activists demands for change: equality for women, social justice, and creating laws to preserve indigenous rights.