The Foundation 1963–1977

Clip 2: Raising The Foundation

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

Historical footage shows a young Chicka Dixon, and how The Foundation raised funds is explained.

Curator’s notes

In a period in Australian history where there was no government funding available for Indigenous peoples, The Foundation was a centre that raised funds in order to provide services for Indigenous peoples living in the city. We hear from dedicated, passionate and committed individuals involved in revenue raising facilitated through The Foundation, and who are today still revered and respected.

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, Charles (Chicka) Dixon and others, who discuss the services the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs provided for Indigenous Australians, particularly those who had just moved to Sydney, and how they raised the funds for the organisation. The footage begins with a 1960s interview with Chicka Dixon on the ‘ghetto-like’ accommodation for Indigenous people in Sydney and includes footage showing Foundation workers, social events and newspaper clippings.

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.

In 1964 the Foundation launched a Christmas door knocking appeal, as seen in this clip, to help buy a building in George Street, Sydney. The appeal raised £80,000 and the New South Wales government donated £10,000. After this massive fundraising effort the Foundation was able to buy a building and provide meeting rooms, a gymnasium, counselling services, adult education, a hostel and short-term accommodation.

This clip highlights the dedication and organised activism of members of the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs, not only in their provision of services to Indigenous Australians in Sydney but also in their persistence and motivation in fundraising. Without government funding, the Foundation had to raise its own funds, for example by targeting mainstream organisations such as Rotary and Apex, by doorknocking and by organising dances.

Dr Charlie Perkins (1936–2000), the first Indigenous Australian university graduate, was the manager of the Foundation from 1965 to 1969. Perkins was a well-respected pioneer in Indigenous political leadership and activism. In 1967 he joined the federal public service, eventually becoming the first Indigenous head of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

In 1965 Charlie Perkins led a group of university students on a Freedom Ride through NSW regional towns. This was designed to focus attention on the appalling conditions being endured by Aboriginal Australians in NSW country towns and to highlight the contemporary segregation and racial discrimination.

During the 1920s and 30s, Indigenous people moved from rural missions to Sydney, particularly Redfern, in search of cheap accommodation and work on the railways. By the 1960s this area, once the land of the Gadigal people, became a focal point for Indigenous political activism. In 1973 Redfern was the first urban land-rights hand-back in Australia, which partially resulted in the Indigenous population tripling between 1967 and 1981.

The living conditions in the inner city of Sydney in the 1960s were substandard. Suburbs such as Redfern housed working class, migrant and Indigenous people near heavy industry, factories and warehouses. The housing stock was largely dilapidated or consisted of high- and low-rise housing commission flats. Aboriginal Australians, in particular, were subjected to evictions and widespread racial discrimination from owners unwilling to rent houses to them.

Charles (Chicka) Dixon (1928–), worked as a young man on the Sydney wharves, campaigned for the ‘Yes’ vote for the 1967 referendum, co-founded the Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972, worked to establish the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service and was the first Aboriginal person to be appointed a Councillor on the Australia Council. In 1983 he was named the first Aboriginal Australian of the Year.