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Riding the Freedom Bus

By Kirsten Cheatham - posted Monday, 21 March 2005


Take a handful of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, put them together on a bus for two weeks discussing the affairs of the nation and what do you get? Well, besides 20-something sausage sizzles, sleep deprivation and a wave of cultural and sexual tension, you get a very different take on Howard’s notion of “Practical reconciliation” that’s for sure.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1965 Freedom Ride, led by Indigenous icon and activist Dr Charles Perkins, this year a group of 30 students, social justice advocates and filmmakers set off into the unknown of regional NSW to take stock of just how much has changed in the past 40 years and to generate a new debate on the status of reconciliation in Australia.

An event of historical significance, the Freedom Ride of 1965 brought to light for the first time the discrimination and injustice endured by Indigenous people. Sparked by similar protests in the southern states of America, it was a part of the Aboriginal civil rights movement and an event that was the impetus for change in Aboriginal affairs in this country. Not only did it influence the push for, and the outcome of, the 1967 referendum, but it also spawned a new generation of freethinkers, activists and leaders. Most notable were Charles Perkins, the first Aboriginal graduate of the University of Sydney: Professor Ann Curthoys and the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Jim Spigelman.

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Whilst our trip would be significant in the reconciliation process, following in the shadow of the 1965 Freedom Ride was a daunting task as we were all too aware that our journey would never be able to emulate exactly the achievements of the original. We were not breaking colour baths or protesting outside of partitioned cinemas, we were simply going out to talk to people, to take stock of how far we have come as a nation in the past 40 years and identifying what still needs to change in order to move forward.

In 1965 racism and desegregation were high on the agenda. In 2005 the focus was the Freedom Ride as a vehicle for reconciliation.

Admittedly it is a very different Australia today than what it was back in 1965. In this day and age few if any Australians could imagine being excluded from the local swimming pool, cinema or RSL Club purely on the basis of race. To me this type of racism is simply unfathomable, but to many it is a memory because it did happen, and it was the efforts of the original Freedom Ride that forced this change.

As an Indigenous student in a very privileged position at university it is often very easy to forget the struggle through which the liberties that I now take for granted were realised.

But that’s not to say that everything has changed because the general consensus is that too much has stayed the same. Aboriginal people are still facing the same disadvantages and fighting some of the same battles they were fighting 40 years ago.

A common thread that emerged as we ventured through country NSW was that whilst the face of racism was nothing like it was in 1965, discrimination is still very much a part of day to day life for Aboriginal people.

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Having grown up in a middle-class, non-Indigenous household without much exposure to racism, I naively took into this initiative my own perceptions on what I thought the face of racism was and the part we could play in changing that. Whilst I was of the opinion that racism inevitably did exist, at least subtly, never did I expect to have my illusions completely shattered. On the third day into the trip, in one fell swoop, both my own and the group’s outlook on race relations changed forever as the harsh reality of racism reared its ugly head and proved that it is still very much alive and kicking.

Not long after leaving a bar in Gulargambone where we had shared a drink in front of the wall formerly used to segregate Aboriginal patrons from non-Aboriginal ones, we were approached by a young Aboriginal man with a very timely dilemma. In what can only be described as a first hand account of racial discrimination we listened as he explained that he had been denied entry to a CountryLink bus despite having a valid ticket. En route to Walgett we stopped at a service station only to find the bus stationed there. Our Indigenous leader Daniel Syron did not waste any time in confronting the bus driver who conveniently yet unsuccessfully denied everything. When pressed as to his actions, the driver replied firstly that there were no available seats on the bus, and then that the boy was late, to which he added “I am like a train, when the doors close I go”. All of this after he had let on a non-Indigenous passenger, just moments after. Not happy with this outcome a young non-Indigenous woman on the bus protested, only to be told to pipe down or she would be kicked off the bus.

This incident however was just one of many stories we heard on our journey. Others told us of racism in the realms of real estate, police abuse and profuse monitoring in shops. In Tenterfield one non-Indigenous young man relayed a disturbing story of the actions of what are supposed to be the protectors and law enforcers of our society. He referred in disgust to having witnessed a policemen make a young Aboriginal boy kiss his shoes after having stopped and searched him.

All of these things, together with the escalation of tensions in places like Palm Island, Goondiwindi and Myall Creek, are all evil of the same kind. However experiencing the events as they happened as opposed to just seeing images sprayed all over the television has left a lasting impression with the entire group.

The status of Aboriginals as second-class citizens in their own country is no secret to any Australian. We’ve all heard the statistics time and time again about their position as an underprivileged minority: lower life expectancy and school retention rates; higher infant mortality rates; overrepresentation in the criminal justice system; higher incidences of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the list goes on. But what we haven’t heard however, are the answers.

The government’s response of “practical reconciliation”, and now the mainstreaming of services, just does not correspond with Aboriginal Australia’s definition of reconciliation. Giving people access to resources to which they should already be entitled as a fundamental human right, such as water and housing, does nothing but sidestep the issues at the heart of the reconciliation debate. The same goes for the argument that self-determination for Aboriginal people will just create greater cultural divisions. I don’t buy into this separatism argument and neither have countries such as New Zealand, the US or Canada, all of whom have greater standing as international citizens in the human rights arena - an area where Australia does not fare well.

Regardless of the perceived benefits of “practical reconciliation”, no amount of basic service provision or welfare payments are ever truly going to redress the situation. The only purpose such a response to the “Aboriginal problem” serves is to keep the voices at bay by giving the impression to the rest of Australia that something is being done. This effectively allows the real issues to fall off the radar.

On the other hand, blaming the victims for their current state of affairs is not the answer either. It is an easy solution to make Aboriginal people a convenient scapegoat but the government cannot deny that the plight of Indigenous Australians and their tragic past is inextricably linked. The two go hand in hand.

Understandably then, the freedom riders’ meeting with the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Dr Andrew Refshauge scheduled for early next month is eagerly awaited. We collected over 120 hours of footage from our journey containing many other recommendations from communities about what needs to change. We will be consulting with those communities around the development of a submission to the Minister which includes proposals for future action and change. We are positive that it will be a step in the right direction for what is really a long overdue response to the needs and wants of Aboriginal Australia. We will also continue to work closely with the communities visited and other bodies such as the NSW Council for Reconciliation and ANTaR (Australians For Native Title and Reconciliation) in the long struggle for true reconciliation.

If anything the Freedom Ride journey of 2005 has identified that, despite the minimal response of the government and their constant attempts to undermine the process, the progress of reconciliation, at least at the local level, is in-fact thriving. Countless initiatives are being run by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people instilling a great sense of hope and worth in the world’s oldest culture.

In one of our first stops in Dubbo we were impressed by the tenacity and strength of the local Aboriginal women who realised something needed to be done and took it upon themselves to create a literary service for Aboriginal women and children. The initiative they created, Apollo House, was going strong despite decreased government funding and the impending opening of yet another local bottle-shop.

The Linking Together Centre in Inverell catered for the daily needs of Aboriginal children before attending school by providing meals, whilst also running an array of other programs including a learn to drive and new mothers workshop. The centre also doubled as a day-care and ran excursions for the children during holidays, all of which was only attainable through the endless efforts of fundraising throughout the year.

An initiative that really struck a chord with me however was the teaching of the traditional language to Aboriginal children at St Marys primary school in Bowraville. It is a practice not only vital for the preservation and survival of the Aboriginal culture, but also important in the formation of a cultural identity. A place labelled by the original freedom riders as one of the worst in terms of racism and segregation, the school sets a shining example for the rest of Australia in terms of where we should be heading.

So it is clear then, that at least at the local level, the movement of reconciliation is flourishing. But it is not just about the grassroots. It has to be more than that. Reconciliation is a process that succeeds and fails at the hearts and minds of Australians and requires shared responsibility and collective participation by all. It has to be backed by national as well as local leadership in order to make any headway.

Politicians are eager to throw around words like equality and egalitarianism but neither perception could be further from the truth. You only have to look a short distance away to “The Block”, the notorious heart of Sydney’s Aboriginal community, to see how very close, yet far apart the two worlds are.

Recent incidents such as the dragging of a young man by a noose in Goondiwindi, the suspicion surrounding the death of Palm Island man Cameron Doomagee and the defacing of the Myall Creek Memorial site on Australia Day this year, are all too timely reminders of the racist attitudes towards the first people of this country and the work that still needs to be done before we all as Australians can unite and together enjoy some sort of peaceful coexistence. 40 years is a long time and while a lot of water has passed under the bridge, a lot of work still needs to be done. We all as Australians have a part to play, a commitment to make to ensure that it is not another 40 years before the situation of the Indigenous people and their relationship with their fellow countrymen is truly rectified.

Until then, we wait for the day when we can all be proud to live in a country that champions reconciliation and values all of its people.

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Article edited by Angus Ibbott.
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About the Author

Kirsten Cheatham, a descendent of the Kamilaroi people and a 2nd year arts/law student at the University of Sydney.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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