The City of Sydney will host a photographic exhibition in Redfern to mark the anniversary of the Freedom Ride.
60 years ago, a historic protest bus ride around NSW exposed systemic racism against Aboriginal peoples.
Influenced by the Freedom Rides and civil rights movement in the United States, 29 students including Arrente/Kalkadoon man Charles Perkins set off on a bus tour from the University of Sydney on 12 February 1965.
Taking the movement to 16 regional towns in 15 days, the tour confronted the entrenched and overt racism experienced by Aboriginal peoples including segregation and exclusion. In Walgett, the bus was run off the road by angry locals.
The exhibition features historic photographs and contemporary portraits of people who lived in the towns when the bus visited.
“When I was 13, I watched the bus roll down the mission,” Uncle Dan Munro said.
“The white students on the bus along with Charlie came down and asked some of the parents on the mission if they could take some of us kids to the pool. Some parents were scared to let their kids go, but others were OK after they explained what they were doing.
“This was the first time I saw white people stand up against the racism we lived with every day.”
A morning tea hosted by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council is also being held at Sydney Town Hall to also acknowledge the landmark moment in Australian history.
“The Freedom Ride is now widely recognised as one of Australia’s most significant civil rights protests,” Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore AO said.
“While the bus was on the road for a little more than two weeks, the Freedom Ride sparked national and international debate for years about the discrimination and injustices faced by Aboriginal peoples.
“The protest had a lasting impact in the regional communities the bus visited and influenced the civil rights and self-determination movement in Redfern in the 1970s.
“Our exhibition is another way to mark the legacy and impact of the Freedom Ride, 60 years on.”
