Interviews with Australians about segregated swimming pools [1965]

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Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Aussieiuszko@aussie.zone⁩ to ⁨australia@aussie.zone⁩

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Qo6KKmkwJO0

Good on 'em all, especially the newspaper salesmen. I’d love to know what the old cunt said behind the beep.

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ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
My mum was in Moree to visit the pool on the day the Freedom Ride arrived there. She was 16 at the time, and she’s always told me the impact it had on her!

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- eureka@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  A couple of months ago (on the anniversary) I listened to one of the Freedom Riders talk about their trip, and they made a point that the eager reception they received was really encouraging, and also allowed them to better understand all the different places segregation and oppression existed in towns and how horrific it could be. Understanding their situation was a big piece that enabled labour organisations (incl. unions) of all stripes to unite and fight segregation and end the “Aboriginal Welfare Board”.
  
  I can’t find much of it on sites like Wikipedia or ABC news, but I found this interview with Ray Peckham talking about the same events here:
  
  Ray talked with us about a campaign at Port Kembla in this period to illustrate the crucial role of unions. Residents of the Coomaditchie Aboriginal reserve were demanding new houses, but some of the only remaining land in the area was being taken over by the adjacent University.
  
  “Bobby Davis [a local Aboriginal leader] was a wharfie at Port Kembla and he worked with Joe Howe, a delegate from the Waterside Workers Federation.
  
  “They set up a campaign, naturally it was through the Trades and Labour Council and backed by the union. They won that strip of land and had eight houses built on it from that fight.”
  
  In Sydney and Wollongong too, union power was used to fight segregation. Pubs that refused to serve Aboriginal people would be confronted by crowds of trade unionists. Ray explained, “We would get the Liquor Trades Union to put a ban on the pub. Force them to change that way, with a black ban.”
  
  …net.au/…/indigenous-activist-ray-peckham-how-uni…
  
  It’s important to recognise and remember how united worker movements have historically built movements that forced governments into listening to us - both major parties were resistant to removing the White Australia Policy in the early 60s. That’s why Labor’s renewed attacks on militant unions like the MUA and the CFMEU are particularly disturbing. Both these unions have been at the forefront, sticking up for protester’s rights and social justice, and it will be devastating to all of us if they are successfully squashed.
  
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eureka@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I didn’t know until pretty recently that plenty of segregation existed in Australia within living memory. I didn’t learn a word of it in school despite us learning about the Civil War and Jim Crow in the USA, in fact I only knew about the US Freedom Riders.

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