The Foundation 1963–1977

Clip 1: In the beginning

Taken from the documentary The Foundation 1963–1977 (2002)

Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be PG

Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.

Curator’s clip description

The main characters are introduced: Joyce Clague, Gary Foley, and Chicka Dixon – all were present and instrumental in the creation of The Foundation.

Curator’s notes

In contemporary Australia, the association between Indigenous peoples and welfare dependency is quite a prominent belief. In this clip, we learn that Indigenous peoples up until very recently were in fact ineligible for welfare support, making the establishment of something like The Foundation a necessary one. We hear from key personalities involved in the empowerment of Indigenous peoples.

Romaine Moreton, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

This page is printer friendly

This clip shows interviews with Indigenous activists Joyce Clague, Gary Foley and Charles (Chicka) Dixon who explain the role of the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs in pushing for greater autonomy and economic independence for Indigenous Australians and the social and political situation in the early 1960s, including the government’s policy of assimilation. Music and sound effects are used in the clip and the interviews are intercut with black-and-white historical footage and photographs.

Educational value points

The Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs, established in 1963 in Sydney, agitated for political and social change and supported Aboriginal people – particularly young rural people moving to Sydney. The main forms of support were accommodation, employment, legal and financial advice and medical assistance.

As a result of the massive fundraising appeal of 1964 mentioned in the clip, the Foundation bought a building in George Street, Sydney and established meeting rooms, a gymnasium, counselling services, adult education, a hostel and accommodation. By 1967 more than 400 people were using the services and by 1973 an all-Indigenous management was in place.

In this clip Joyce Clague discusses how in the early 1960s most Aboriginal Australians were unable to receive unemployment benefits, the pension or child endowment. In the mid-20th century many Indigenous people were still forced to live on missions, lacked the right of free movement and were unable to vote.

Indigenous Australians were able to apply for a Citizenship Certificate or Certificate of Exemption, which required that, among other things, they kept away from other Aboriginal people and lived a Western lifestyle. In return they could vote, they were allowed into hotels and their children could go to school.

The policy of assimilation, mentioned by Gary Foley in this clip, was officially adopted as national policy in 1937 and remained so until 1972. By 1951 all state governments claimed that they had adopted this policy but it was not until 1961 that a definition of what assimilation actually meant was agreed on.

The definition of assimilation agreed on in 1961 stated: ‘The policy of assimilation means that all Aborigines and part-Aborigines are expected eventually to attain the same manner of living as other Australians and to live as members of a single Australian community enjoying the same rights and privileges, accepting the same responsibilities, observing the same customs and influenced by the same beliefs, as other Australians.’

Assimilation had various shades of meaning. To some advocates it meant compulsory absorption and disappearance of the Indigenous peoples. To others, it meant equal rights and integration by choice with the non-Indigenous population. Government rhetoric gradually shifted to the latter view. At the time, few whites comprehended that the First Australians might prefer to retain their own culture, or that neutral laws do not deliver equality in fact.

Gary Foley (1950–) grew up in northern NSW and is of Gumbainggir descent. In the 1960s he became involved in Indigenous political activism and co-founded the Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972. He was also involved in the formation of Redfern’s Aboriginal Legal Centre and of Aboriginal Medical Services in Sydney and Melbourne. Foley is a playwright, actor, former curator at Museum Victoria and currently a lecturer at the University of Melbourne.