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Black and white together FCAATSI : the Federal Council for
the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strat Islanders, 1958-1973
Susan Taffe
St Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2005
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Book description
In the l950s Australia considered itself “the land of the fair
go”. However, this was not the experience of Indigenous Australians who were
excluded from the vote, equal wages, education and social services. Action
against such disparity came in 1958 with the creation of the grassroots
organisation, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and
Torres Strait Islanders, whose founding members were black and white. As the
first national lobby group of its kind, it achieved sweeping social and
legislative reforms for Indigenous Australians. Over the next decade,
unions, religious groups, communists, students, artists and activists joined
in the timely alliance, campaigning for inclusive civil rights and land
rights. Conflicting ideologies and shifts in leadership strained the group’s
harmony and effectiveness. With the advent of black power politics and the
Tent Embassy, FCAATSI became an Indigenous body and the inter-racial
coalition came to an end.
This rigorously researched and absorbing book on Australia’s pre-eminent
Indigenous civil rights organisation began as an oral history and contains
rare interviews with former members and strategists, including Faith Bandler,
Charles Perkins, Stan Davey, Shirley Andrews and Joe McGinness. [UQP]
About the author
Dr. Sue Taffe is a Research Fellow in the School of Historical
Studies at Monash University. This book is a revised version of
her doctoral thesis. She is currently working with the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, National
Archives of Australia, National Library of Australia, National Museum of
Australia and the State Library of Victoria on an exhibition project to
mark the 50th anniversary of black and white Australians working
nationally for Indigenous rights.
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