Freedom Ride (29 page)

“Where are you going?” called Keith.

“Home.”

I drank in the confusion that flashed across his face.

“Be seeing you,” I bellowed as the bus changed gear.

Beside me, Micky blew them a kiss.

As recently as the 1960s, Indigenous Australians were banned from cafes, milk bars, hairdressers, hotels, hospitals, swimming pools and other public places due to their skin colour. Places which did allow Indigenous people entry had strict rules. For example, in some NSW towns Aborigines had to enter the cinema through a back entrance after the lights were dimmed and sit in roped off areas at the front. Hospitals that actually treated Aborigines kept them separate from white people in “wards” on the hospital verandah.

In the early Sixties, civil rights issues in America impacted on other countries, including Australia. After a student rally in Canberra to protest the segregation in America, Australian students were criticised for not complaining about the way Australia’s Indigenous population were treated.

Sydney University students formed the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) group and elected the first Indigenous Australian to graduate from university, Charles Perkins, as its leader. With the help of Rev Ted Noffs, from the Wayside Chapel in Sydney, SAFA organised an Australian version of the American Freedom Rides. While the American protest concentrated on segregation on public transport, the aim of the Australian Freedom Ride was to investigate and highlight the health, education and housing conditions of Aborigines. The students followed Rev Martin Luther King’s model of non-violent, direct action.

SAFA hired a bus, and between February 12 and 26, 1965, travelled 3200 kilometres through towns including Orange, Dubbo, Walgett, Moree, Grafton, Bowraville and Kempsey. The students surveyed Indigenous and white Australians about conditions and were confronted and upset by what they discovered.

The students held their first protest in Walgett where they picketed the RSL. During the tour, they faced opposition not just from white residents of the town, but also Indigenous people, who were fearful the attention would only worsen their plight. The student action attracted media attention not only nationally but internationally.

SAFA broke up in 1966, but achieved much in its short life. The Freedom Ride they organised raised the issues of racism and discrimination in mainstream media, and set in motion the success of the 1967 Referendum to have Aboriginal people included in the census, and to enable the Commonwealth to make laws for them. This Referendum result was the biggest yes vote in Australia’s history.

This Freedom Ride paved the way for other action, including the land rights campaigns, the setting up of the Tent Embassy in Canberra and the apology to the Stolen Generation. While the treatment of Indigenous people has improved, there is still a long way to go.

In 2015, thirteen of the students who participated in the 1965 Freedom Ride, plus Charles Perkins’ daughter and current Sydney University students visited Dubbo, Walgett, Moree and Kempsey to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Ride. The re-enactment celebrated the courage of the original Riders and the communities they visited. The anniversary Ride was led by the Sydney University Student Representative Council president, Kyol Blakeney, the first Aboriginal man to hold the position.

Though the actual process of writing is a solitary one, the development of an idea to a novel involves a cast of thousands. So many people have generously contributed their experiences and expertise to the writing of
Freedom Ride
.

Without Maryann Ballantyne’s incredible enthusiasm, support and encouragement, I’d still be toying with writing this novel. I am blessed to have such an inspiring editor, talented publisher and friend.

The Walker Crew – who polish, cut, design and support.

Thank you to those courageous and inspired students who woke Australia to what was occurring – apartheid by another name – in our own country. This segregation was referred to as a colour bar. Their courage and determination to create awareness and change altered the direction of Australia’s history. But we still have a long way to go.

I am indebted to one particular student who participated in the 1965 Freedom Ride, Ann Curthoys. Ann kept a diary during the tour and later wrote
Freedom Ride: A Freedom Rider Remembers
, published in 2002. The book was invaluable and fascinating, and helped me understand the cultural climate of the time, the courage of the students and Indigenous people, and the difficulties both groups faced.

My thanks also to another dedicated and passionate person, Rachel Perkins, who wrote and directed “Freedom Ride”, an episode of the 1995 TV series
Blood Brothers
. It provided helpful background information and solidified in my mind the importance of the event.

The Crannys – Karen, Corinne and Bernadette – for their friendship, understanding, encouragement, laughs and publishing moments. Everybody needs Crannys in their life. I’m so lucky to have them in mine.

An extra thank you to Corinne for sharing her memories of the Sixties and caravanning.

My brother Anthony Rizzo, who shared his experiences in New South Wales.

Brendan Delahunty, who pointed me in the right direction for details and offered sound advice.

The wonderful May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust – thank you for the Creative Time Residential Fellowship! What luxury to be able to write and edit and avoid the usual trappings of daily life.

Finally, but most importantly, thanks to my ever-supportive, understanding and patient husband Bruce and daughter, Courtney. I couldn’t do what I do without you.

Freedom Ride
was developed as part of a Creative Time Residential Fellowship provided by the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust.

First published in 2015

by Black Dog Books

an imprint of Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd

Locked Bag 22, Newtown

NSW 2042 Australia

www.walkerbooks.com.au

This ebook edition published in 2015

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Text © 2015 Sue Lawson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Lawson, Sue, 1963– author.

Freedom ride / Sue Lawson.

Subjects: Sydney University – Students – Fiction.

Freedom Rides, 1965 – Fiction.

Civil rights demonstrations – Australia – Fiction.

College students – Travel – Fiction.

A823.4

ISBN: 978-1-925126-52-5 (ePub/mobi)

ISBN: 978-1-925126-51-8 (e-PDF)

Cover (newspaper background) © Shutterstock.com/Here

Cover (image of protestors) © Shutterstock.com/Rawpixel

For the Crannys – Karen, Bernadette and Corinne.

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.
If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

A BRISBANE COLLECTIVE QUOTE

“An important slice of Australian history. 4
^1/2
stars.”
BOOKS+PUBLISHING

“A brilliant evocation of the racism in Australia of the 1960s and the Freedom Ride that challenged it.”
ANN CURTHOYS

“A pivotal moment in Australia’s history is captured in this story.”
DARCE CASSIDY

Ann Curthoys and Darce Cassidy were part of the original Freedom Ride in 1965.

Other Books by Sue Lawson

Allie McGregor’s True Colours

Forget Me Not

Finding Darcy

After

Dare You

Pan’s Whisper

You Don’t Even Know