1965

[captainsutto]

No entry to cafes, no entry to bars, no property rentals, not much has changed.

Some attitudes have changed without doubt, but is it a widespread shift? I am not convinced it is.

Ive got to massively disagree.
hiw many instances of the highlighted text do you personally see happening on a daily basis?

 

[daRque]

Ive got to massively disagree.
hiw many instances of the highlighted text do you personally see happening on a daily basis?

Depends.

In the city, I don't see it.

When I am on a roadtrip in the outback I see constant examples of racism.

People should spend some time in the outback if they genuinely want to see the issues.

But to be realistic, the highlighted text refers to the reasons for the Freedom Ride in 1965, so not a fair comparison as no entry to cafes etc would now be considered illegal.

I have seen recent posts on this forum with people saying they would not rent property to an Aboriginal.

You're not actually suggesting there are no instances of blatant racism in 2024 are you?

 

[chelseabree]

Yet in 1967 the Australian people voted to give FN people the vote as they thought it was wrong. We had two brilliant FN footballers in Kevin 'Lummy 'Longbottom who had his own cheer squad on the hill, and we were starting a love affair with Eric 'Cuddles' Simms.
Basically, Souths have won 20 premierships. Eric Simms won a premiership in 1968. A fact freely admitted by all in the Souths territory in 1968. Worth 2 million dollars was the typical comment- In 1968!
In my home town of Gerringong Roy Stewart was treated like royalty. Mick Cronin would agree with that.
I have just written an article for the local Kiama paper on Joe Dixon who died well before I was born. I got the info from my father and many other great Gerringong people who wrote about the greatest people in Gerringong history in 1982.

 

[daRque]

Yet in 1967 the Australian people voted to give FN people the vote as they thought it was wrong.

Not quite right.

In 1967 Aboriginals were give the "option" to vote, but they were not required to vote like white people were.

It was not until 1984 that Aboriginals were required to vote as white people were.

We had two brilliant FN footballers in Kevin 'Lummy 'Longbottom who had his own cheer squad on the hill, and we were starting a love affair with Eric 'Cuddles' Simms.
Basically, Souths have won 20 premierships. Eric Simms won a premiership in 1968. A fact freely admitted by all in the Souths territory in 1968. Worth 2 million dollars was the typical comment- In 1968!
In my home town of Gerringong Roy Stewart was treated like royalty. Mick Cronin would agree with that.
I have just written an article for the local Kiama paper on Joe Dixon who died well before I was born. I got the info from my father and many other great Gerringong people who wrote about the greatest people in Gerringong history in 1982.

I'm not sure of the relevance of mentioning sporting people, I don't think the way a sporting celebrity of Aboriginal descent would be treated would even be close to how the average Aboriginal in the outback would be treated.

 

[captainsutto]

Depends.

In the city, I don't see it.

When I am on a roadtrip in the outback I see constant examples of racism.

People should spend some time in the outback if they genuinely want to see the issues.

But to be realistic, the highlighted text refers to the reasons for the Freedom Ride in 1965, so not a fair comparison as no entry to cafes etc would now be considered illegal.

I have seen recent posts on this forum with people saying they would not rent property to an Aboriginal.

You're not actually suggesting there are no instances of blatant racism in 2024 are you?

I’d suggest it’s bugger all nowadays compared to the past.
Extremely isolated instances

 

[chelseabree]

Not quite right.

In 1967 Aboriginals were give the "option" to vote, but they were not required to vote like white people were.

It was not until 1984 that Aboriginals were required to vote as white people were.

View attachment 2109




I'm not sure of the relevance of mentioning sporting people, I don't think the way a sporting celebrity of Aboriginal descent would be treated would even be close to how the average Aboriginal in the outback would be treated.

Technically speaking you are right. I was very young in 1967 and I cannot speak for the general population but what I have gleaned the Australian people, generally, felt that the Ab. people not having even an option to vote was wrong. I think the average person wanted the best for the FN people.
As far as sporting heroes. Yes, sporting heroes like the Evonne Goolagong Lionel Rose and the Souths players were put on a pedestal.
Now after 1982 when I was a teacher FN kids were venerated and I never experienced one case of bullying of a FN student ever. It was STRONG departmental policy.
But back to 1967 when I was a child. I can only speak from my own personal experience. We had FN kids in my class. We never even thought of picking on them, it just did not cross our minds. At school we studied FN culture 'Aboriginals of the Western Desert' I seem to recall. As a Boy Scout, SCOUTING FOR BOYS was the 'Bible' of the movement. It basically said, apart from the usual blub, that we should intensely study the FN way of life and copy it as closely as we could.
Of course there are ********s in every society. But this is my personal experiences.
PS. I have heaps of old newspapers with great Souths games from 50 years ago +. (everybody has a hobby) What is interesting is how any articles there about FN people. Some are about horrible events that happened in history and they are written that way, as a time to be ashamed of what happened.

 

[daRque]

I’d suggest it’s bugger all nowadays compared to the past.
Extremely isolated instances

I think it's far more than "bugger all", but no way to prove it either way.

It's interesting because even your location impacts it.

Going back a year or so I was managing a girl from an African background who had lived in Melbourne then moved up to Sydney. She was extremely dark skinned and quite a stunning looking woman.

She was born in Africa but moved here when she was about 6 or 7 from memory.

I asked her one day had she received much racism and did she think Oz was a racist country.

She said in Melbourne she copped racist comments on an almost daily basis, she said it was endless. She then went on to say since moving to Sydney she had not received even ONE racist comment or action.

I am not sure what that means, but I found it interesting.

 

[daRque]

Technically speaking you are right. I was very young in 1967 and I cannot speak for the general population but what I have gleaned the Australian people, generally, felt that the Ab. people not having even an option to vote was wrong. I think the average person wanted the best for the FN people.

I agree. I don't believe Aus is a racist country as such, and I genuinely believe most fair minded Aussies want what's right, best and fair for the indigenous.

The problem is there are still a lot of white Australians who have a very racist attitude, and don't hide it.

They rave on with that "they should be grateful the Spanish didn't take their country before we got here", and such a stupid comment only shows they have zero understanding of the issues, or just don't care.

As far as sporting heroes. Yes, sporting heroes like the Evonne Goolagong Lionel Rose and the Souths players were put on a pedestal.
Now after 1982 when I was a teacher FN kids were venerated and I never experienced one case of bullying of a FN student ever. It was STRONG departmental policy.
But back to 1967 when I was a child. I can only speak from my own personal experience. We had FN kids in my class. We never even thought of picking on them, it just did not cross our minds. At school we studied FN culture 'Aboriginals of the Western Desert' I seem to recall.

I was raised partly in the outback and partly in the city, I went to one school that had 36 students ranging from 1st class through to 6th class, yep, all in one classroom.

From memory there were 30 Indigi kids and 5 or 6 white.

We got along so well, my nickname was "Wabo" which stood for "white abo", because I played league barefoot like they did. Great times and great memories, there was no colour or race issues between the kids.

But I remember subtle things that had a very racist slant to them. For example when we lined up each morning to get our bottles of cold milk (remember those?) the teacher ALWAYS lined up all the white kids up front, and the black kids behind them, every day.

Same if sporting gear was being handed out for say a sports day or something.

With hindsight I can see the kids had no race issues, it came from the adults who were raised under the White Australia policy, I feel they found that hard to shake off.

As a Boy Scout, SCOUTING FOR BOYS was the 'Bible' of the movement. It basically said, apart from the usual blub, that we should intensely study the FN way of life and copy it as closely as we could.
Of course there are ********s in every society. But this is my personal experiences.
PS. I have heaps of old newspapers with great Souths games from 50 years ago +. (everybody has a hobby) What is interesting is how any articles there about FN people. Some are about horrible events that happened in history and they are written that way, as a time to be ashamed of what happened.

 

[chelseabree]

I agree. I don't believe Aus is a racist country as such, and I genuinely believe most fair minded Aussies want what's right, best and fair for the indigenous.

The problem is there are still a lot of white Australians who have a very racist attitude, and don't hide it.

They rave on with that "they should be grateful the Spanish didn't take their country before we got here", and such a stupid comment only shows they have zero understanding of the issues, or just don't care.



I was raised partly in the outback and partly in the city, I went to one school that had 36 students ranging from 1st class through to 6th class, yep, all in one classroom.

From memory there were 30 Indigi kids and 5 or 6 white.

We got along so well, my nickname was "Wabo" which stood for "white abo", because I played league barefoot like they did. Great times and great memories, there was no colour or race issues between the kids.

But I remember subtle things that had a very racist slant to them. For example when we lined up each morning to get our bottles of cold milk (remember those?) the teacher ALWAYS lined up all the white kids up front, and the black kids behind them, every day.

Same if sporting gear was being handed out for say a sports day or something.

With hindsight I can see the kids had no race issues, it came from the adults who were raised under the White Australia policy, I feel they found that hard to shake off.

Ah I remember the milk. My wife, who grew up in Fairfield hated it as it was warm. I however, grew up in Gerringong, farming territory and it was fresh and cold!
I have a lovely picture of Lummy kicking goals at practice with bare feet!

 

[Magaoidh]

From my IRA friends wisdom.
He pointed out that a symptom of a beaten people is/was their dependence on alcoholism.
The Irish and Scots victims of Anglo military superiority hit the turps big time!
A beaten submissuve race hits the turps.
Could also apply in African countries?

 

[captainsutto]

Alcohol is a problem in every society regardless of circumstance