Details

Latitude

-35.28094581

Longitude

149.1299278

Start Date

1965-04-16

End Date

1965-04-18

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Charles Perkins reported the events to a crowd of 200 people at the 1965 Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) conference in Canberra. 'The problem is out in the open now', he told them. He called for necessary follow-up work such as the building of relationships with local Aboriginal groups and improved services and access to education for Aboriginal residents in western New South Wales towns. Conference goers heard that one positive result of the students' activities was that the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board publicly announced that it would spend sixty-five thousand pounds on housing in Moree. Later in the year, Harry Hall, president of the Walgett Aborigines' Progressive Association, appealed to Perkins and other Aboriginal activists to return to Walgett to assist in the fight against the colour bar being applied at the Oasis Hotel. Perkins and others returned to help. The SAFA engaged in further visits to country towns later in the year but, by the end of 1966, it was finished as a political force. The 1965 Freedom Ride through New South Wales towns and the publicity it gained, including in overseas newspapers such as the New York Times, illuminated to the world the racial discrimination happening in Australia. While the life of the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) was relatively short, the Ride had a lasting impact and served to strengthen the campaigns that followed to bring about greater equality and recognition for Aboriginal people.

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