The Aboriginal Day of Mourning

intro protest significance bibliography info

introduction

The 26th of January usually means a day of Aussie celebration for the landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, a happy day where one can sit down and relax, or go out and have some serious fun. However, for many Aborigines, that date is a day of pain and grief.
That was the day that white settlers came to Australia and ruined the lives of the native Aborigines. On the 26th of January, 1938, the Indigenous Australians had endured 150 years of deprivation and abuse by the white settlers.
It was the beginning of the loss of their people and land, their culture and basic human rights.

It was the Aboriginal Day of Mourning.

bibliography

Intro/Significance:
http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-114_t-308_c-1044/aboriginal-day-of-mourning/nsw/history/australia-between-the-wars-1930s/an-event-in-the-1930s
Protest:
http://www.reasoninrevolt.net.au/biogs/E000336b.htm
Protest Poster:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Dayofmourning.jpg
Intro Picture:
http://indigenousrights.net.au/images/pictures/i867_m.jpg

information

Year 9 History
1930s Assignment
Part B
By Chloe
Teacher: Ms. Kite

credits

layout by:
well, honesty is the best policy

the day of mourning protest

It started in October 1937, where William Cooper’s Australian Aborigines League joined with the Ferguson and Patton wings of the Aborigines Progressive Association to call for a Day of Mourning on Australia Day, 1938. This was the 150 year anniversary, of course being a very important date. This joint was followed by a public campaign complete with speeches, meetings and interviews. The campaign pushed the NSW premier into setting up a Select Committee that would inquire into the NSW Aborigines Protection Board.

The Australian Aborigines League said:
'You took our land by force ... You have almost exterminated our people, but there are enough of us remaining to expose the humbug of your claim, to be civilised, progressive and humane.'

The President of the Aborigines’ Progressive Association, Jack Pattern, declared:
"The conference is called to bring home to the white people of Australia the frightful conditions in which the native aborigines of this continent live. We ask for full citizen rights, including old age pensions, maternity bonus, relief work when unemployed, and the right to a full education for our children."

The Day of Mourning Protest is still a very important moment in the history of the indigenous resistance during the early 20th Century.

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