FLASHBACK FRIDAY: On February 13, 1965, a group of 29 students from the University of Sydney – Student Action for Aborigines – embarked on a 15-day bus journey across New South Wales and southern Queensland, with a purpose to expose the appalling living conditions of Aboriginal people and the systemic racism and discrimination they suffered.

SAFA was formed the previous year by Peter Westaway, who the following year became director of television network ATN 7’s current affairs programme, Seven Days.

With Westaway was Council for Civil Liberties secretary, Ken Buckley as well as Peter Martin – who also worked on Seven Days – and Sydney University students Charles Perkins, Kevin Martin and Brian Aarons.

The bus journey, known as the Freedom Ride, was led by 29-year-old Perkins and 19-year-old SAFA secretary Jim Spigelman, who 33 years later would become the 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Prior to leaving Sydney, Perkins told The Canberra Times the group hoped to break down the barriers against Aborigines in country towns.

“We will stage sit-ins and demonstrations in hotels, swimming pools, cafes and theatres,” he said, stressing the demonstrations would be non-violent.

As the historic journey gained momentum, strength and support, the group created headlines – and, more importantly, awareness – across Australia and around the world.

The Freedom Ride opened the eyes of thousands of Australians and became arguably the most significant civil rights event held in the country.

This week marks 60 years since Perkins and his friends left Sydney with a plan to change the collective mindset of a country – which they did.

The bus left Sydney just after midnight on Saturday, February 13, 1965.

Over the course of 15 days, they visited 16 towns across New South Wales and southern Queensland – Wellington, Gulargambone, Walgett, Collarenebri, Moree, Boggabilla, Warwick, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Inverell, Grafton, Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Bowraville, Kempsey and Taree.

At Walgett, they protested against the local RSL club for not allowing membership or entry to Aboriginal ex-servicemen.

A few minutes after leaving Walgett, en route to Moree, a green-coloured truck allegedly driven by the son of a local grazier forced the bus off the road and into a ditch.

The students were shaken but unhurt and returned to Walgett to report the incident to police.

Bus driver, Bill Pakenham, told the Sydney Tribune: “About three or four miles out (of Walgett), we were overtaken by a truck travelling at high speed. It swung in front braking, causing me to swerve the bus to the left to avoid a collision.”

“This was repeated twice more. On the third time, I was unable to avoid a collision and the bus and truck collided. The bus was forced over the embankment. This was three-and-a-half- to four-feet high

on an angle of about 45 degrees,” Pakenham said.

“The bus could quite easily have rolled, and I had to steer down the embankment to prevent that happening. The bus stopped about 100 yards further on and about 30 yards off the road.”

On Tuesday, February 16, the bus pulled into Moree, where the group stayed at the Methodist Church Hall.

In what became a defining moment in the history of Moree, on Wednesday, February 17, the group attempted to take local Aboriginal children into the town swimming pool – known as Moree Bore Baths – but were denied entry because of a municipal council ordinance established 10 years earlier.

The ordinance, which also applied to the Moree War Memorial Hall, stated in part “no person, being a full-blooded or half-caste aboriginal native of Australia, or being a person apparently having an admixture of aboriginal blood, shall use or occupy, or be present in or upon, or be allowed or permitted or invited to use or occupy or be present in or upon the premises of the Council known as the Memorial Hall, or in or upon any of the buildings or places ancillary thereto, or be present in or upon the premises of the Council known as the Bore Baths, or in or upon any of the buildings or places enclosed therewithin”.

With support from members of the community and local businessman Bob Brown, student Sue Johnston attempted to purchase entry tokens to the baths for herself and a group of Aboriginal children.

She was refused.

A peaceful picket was staged at the pool’s main entrance on Anne Street and the Freedom Riders met with Moree mayor, Bill Lloyd and alderman, Alf Jones.

Soon after, they secured the entry of more than 20 Aboriginal children to Moree Bore Baths.

The historic moment changed the town forever.

That night, a public meeting led in part by Bob Brown, drew more than 200 locals who overwhelmingly carried a motion calling for an end to the baths ban.

Much of the Freedom Ride was diarised by student Ann Curthoys, author of Freedom Ride: A Freedom Rider Remembers.

“There were over 200 people there and at first the atmosphere was very hostile, with lots of jeering and interjection,” Curthoys wrote.

“Jim Spigelman spoke first, about who we were and how we came to be there. Then John Powles, on the survey. Then Charlie. The questions were sometimes antagonistic but there were some very sympathetic ones, too.

“Then a Mr Kelly (Neville Kelly, living in Moree at the time and president of the local Labor Party branch) got up and moved that the clause in the statute books about segregation in the swimming pool be removed. This was seconded by Bob Brown, and accepted 88 votes to 10. We were all thrilled to bits.”

The students left Moree on positive terms but returned on Saturday, February 20, when they discovered the ban was back in place.

They were told Bob Brown had tested the ban with a group of Aboriginal children and they were denied entry.

Refusal happened again when SAFA students tried the same approach with another group of Aboriginal children.

“We all went to the swimming pool and lined up behind the children, continually requesting permission to enter. Charlie started talking to the crowd, but there was a lot of hissing and booing. Then he went to the front of the line and when he refused to move, was grabbed and taken away from the line,” Curthoys wrote.

“Those of us who had been walked off were prevented from rejoining the line as we had intended. Angry discussion broke out everywhere. I have never met such hostile, hate-filled people. The hostility seemed to be directed at us as university student intruders rather than to the aborigines.

“It was very hot and crowded and noisy that day. Police escorted the party, and they walked through the crowd who threw eggs, tomatoes, stones, and spat at us.”

Some of the students were physically assaulted during the melee.

The pool was closed and mayor Bill Lloyd reiterated his willingness to quash the ban.

“The mayor came up to us and stated categorically that he would be prepared to sign a motion to rescind the 1955 statute we were protesting against, and would get two other aldermen to co-sign it,” Curthoys wrote.

The events at Moree forced bus driver Bill Pakenham to withdraw from the trip, with Saints Bus Company sending Ernie Albrecht in to assume duties.

The students left Moree and continued their journey to Lismore, Bowraville, Kempsey and Taree.

Later that year, Moree Municipal Council rescinded the by-law, with residents voting to desegregate the pool and lift the colour bar.

The events that unfolded at the Moree Bore Baths this month 60 years ago established a critical turning point in the history of race relations in Australia.

The publicity created shaped widespread, positive opinion that helped win a resounding Yes vote in the 1967 referendum.

Two sections of the Constitution were under scrutiny.

Section 51 stated “the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to (clause xxvi) the people of any race, other than the aboriginal people in any State, for whom it is necessary to make special laws”.

Section 127 stated “in reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives should not be counted”.

The removal of the words “other than the aboriginal people in any State” in section 51(xxvi) as well as the removal of section 127 in its entirety were considered by many to be representative of the widespread push for change.

Such was the political climate in the 1960s, the vote for Yes was the highest recorded in a Federal referendum, with 90.77 per cent of Australians calling for change.

Members of the 1965 Freedom Ride included Charles Perkins, Ann Curthoys, Darce Cassidy, Jim Spiegelman, Judith Rich, Colin Bradford, John Butterworth, David Pepper, Barry Corr, Beth Hansen, Derek Molloy, Brian Aarons, Sue Reeves, Pat Healy, Warwick Richards, Robyn Iredale, Aidan Foy, Alan Outhred, Helen Gray, Norm McKay, Gary Williams, Louise Higham, John Gowdie, Machteld Hali, John Powles, Wendy Golding, Bob Gallagher, Chris Page, Sue Johnston, Paddy Dawson, Hall Greenland, Ray Leppick, Rick Collins, Gerry Mason and Alex Mills.

There were 29 people on the bus when it left Sydney 60 years ago today, February 13.

Four members departed the group and five more joined during the course of the 15-day tour.

A University of Melbourne article about the 1965 Freedom Ride said: “The action has been celebrated, commemorated, archived and re-enacted. At the 50th anniversary, a new generation of Riders set out from Sydney University to travel a similar itinerary, led by Gomeroi man and student leader Kyol Blakeney and accompanied by several members of the original SAFA tour. The political and grassroots contexts offered great complexity and learning for the Freedom Riders of 1965 and the consequences exceeded their foresight and expectations. These and other uncertainties are necessary corollaries to the recognition of a personal and political imperative to contest the terms upon which we live with law. Some students in the group went on to contribute and address the significant challenges and fight faced by Indigenous people within the white settler legal system.”

The 60th anniversary of the Freedom Ride was commemorated in Moree last year, with guest speaker Uncle Lyall Munro opening the ceremony at Moree War Memorial Hall.

The ceremony was followed by a march down Balo Street, across Dr Geoffrey Hunter Bridge, to the Moree Artesian Aquatic Centre.

In Sydney, a photographic exhibition last year in Redfern marked the anniversary of the Freedom Ride.

The exhibition featured historic photographs and contemporary portraits of people who lived in the towns when the bus visited, including Dan Munro.

“When I was 13, I watched the bus roll down the mission,” 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,” he said.

All images courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, and Courtesy SEARCH Foundation

To read Ann Curthoys’ diary, go to: Ann Curthoys’ Diary