In post war Australia, there existed two types of world, the majority and the indigenous minority. In the period following the Second World War, majority of Australians lived in a place where laws ensured order, having enough resources to have a sustainable standard of living. If they didn’t possess or had access to resources, the government benefits and services helped them. The other world was occupied by indigenous Australians whose ancestors had lived in Australia for more than 40 000 years. By the 1950s they lost their land and way of living, living on the edge of town rubbish dumps and sometimes earning money as fruit pickers. State laws didn’t give them any benefits, told where they were allowed to live, stole their children and also had control over who could they marry.
Contact between the inhabitants of these worlds was little, the non-indigenous didn’t care or know about the sufferings of the minority. However, in the late 1950s, aboriginal disadvantages became aware in the eyes of some of the majority and what they could do to address it. They recognised the potential to form a grassroots reform movement to bring the rights and protection of Australian citizenship to the dispossessed aboriginal population.
From the late 1950s, aboriginal and non-aboriginal activist came together to campaign for equal rights for indigenous Australians and to bring about the dismantle of laws which deprived the indigenous Australians of civil rights.
The Australian civil rights movement held series of events before and after, which contributed to the indigenous and Torres Strait islanders achieving their rights. This includes the conditions before the movement, including protection, assimilation, segregation policies and the stolen generation. The inspiration of the us civil rights movement was also a huge encouragement in the process.
Before the civil rights movement