Council for Aboriginal Rights

A strike in Darwin in 1950 led indirectly to the creation of CAR. The North Australian Workers' Union (NAWU) had supported the residents of the Aboriginal reserves of Bagot and Berrimah reserves in their actions opposing curfews imposed on them by the government, and demands for better housing, wages and working conditions. NAWU also publicised the exile of the leader of the strike action, Fred Waters, to Haast's Bluff, west of Alice Springs, over from his home and family, by the Department of Native Affairs, despite having not been convicted of any crime. NAWU president Murray Norris garnered support on a speaking tour of the eastern states, helping non-Indigenous people to understand the conditions suffered by Aboriginal Territorians. After hearing Norris speak, a group of people founded the Council for Aboriginal Rights at a meeting on 16 March 1951, attended by about 70 people, including members of trades unions, women's organisations, and churches. The new organisation's aims were to fight for the rights of and justice for Aboriginal Australians, although pastor (and former footballer) Doug Nicholls and Bill Onus were the only Aboriginal people present. Its aim was to "plan, conduct and organize the widest possible support for a campaign to obtain justice for all Australian Aborigines". The group based the principles, constitution and subsequent campaigns of the council on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (passed in 1948), The first office-bearers elected were: • President: Farnham Maynard, an Anglican clergyman • Vice-president: Colin Williams, a Methodist minister • Honorary Secretary: Henry Wardlaw Executive members (all peace activists) included Shirley Andrews, biochemist, researcher and activist, and Molly Rayne, an academic at the University of Melbourne. A few months later, the first public meeting of the council was held in Melbourne Town Hall on 19 June 1951 and attracting 900 people, including individuals from other states and various organisations such as unions, women's organisations, and religious bodies who joined the new body. The three speakers at the inaugural meeting, medical practitioner and church moderator Charles Duguid of South Australia, writer Alan Marshall, and Doug Nicholls. The meeting publicised the new organisation. ==1950s–1960s==

In early 1952, Andrews was elected honorary secretary after Wardlaw resigned. Duguid had a very high opinion of the work done by the Council for Aboriginal Rights, considering them the most important activist body in the 1950s. and other activists from far north Queensland, such as McGinness and Evelyn Scott. In 1962 it undertook to assist the FCAA with research for and the organisation of a campaign including a carefully-worded petition, to put pressure on the federal government to hold a referendum to allow constitutional change giving the Commonwealth the power to make laws pertaining to Indigenous Australians. The laws and policies applied to Indigenous peoples governed matters including voting rights, marriage, property ownership, and wage rates, and there was wide disparity in the legislation within and among the states and territories. The FCAA petition campaign resulted in 103,000 signatures in 94 separate petitions. ==1970s–1980s==

In 1973 FCAATSI became an Indigenous-controlled body, and the Whitlam Labor government set up the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee in the same year, and helped to fund new organisations such as Aboriginal legal services and Aboriginal health services. CAR continued to support Indigenous enterprises, but its earlier sense of purpose had diminished. There is no evidence in the organisation's files, held in the State Library of Victoria, of an exact date when it ceased to function, but its activities appear to have come to an end in the mid-1980s. ==Legacy==

The influence of the Council for Aboriginal Rights was immense, and it was a key player in the struggle for Indigenous rights in Australia. It helped to shape public opinion, and influenced the growing calls for constitutional reform. The work done on the FCAA's 1962 petition campaign was significant. The campaign led ultimately to the creation and passing of the 1967 referendum, which gave the Federal Government the power to make laws for Indigenous Australians in states, as well as including them in population counts (the Australian census). ==References==