Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship

Source: Faith Bandler and Len Fox, '"The time was
ripe": the story of the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship,
1956-1969', in Turning the Tide, Alternative Publishing
Cooperative Ltd, Chippendale, NSW, 1983, p. 16

The Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship (AAF) came into being in
1956 as a result of discussions between Pearl Gibbs and Faith
Bandler. Gibbs recognised that white support was necessary in the
work to reform the New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board and to
improve conditions of life for Aboriginal people.

The AAF was one of the new post-war organisations working for
social and legislative reforms which counted both Aborigines and
non-Aborigines among its active members. A diverse membership
developed which included members of the Communist Party of
Australia, artists, writers, members of the Jewish community and
members of Christian churches. It was a founding member of the
Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement and sent representatives
to the initial 1958 meeting in Adelaide.

Public attention first turned to the AAF when it held a meeting
in the Sydney Town Hall on 29 April 1957. At that meeting,
prominent Aboriginal Australians such as Doug Nicholls, Harold
Blair, Bert Groves and Bill Onus spoke. A petition was launched to
call for a referendum to amend the Australian Constitution so that
the Commonwealth government could have direct responsibility for
Aboriginal affairs.

Bert Groves was the inaugural president of the AAF and he
represented the organisation at the Adelaide meeting where the
Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement came into being. The
organisation ran campaigns to remove restrictions in New South
Wales laws on Aboriginal use of alcohol, to oppose racial
discrimination in schools, pools and picture theatres in New South
Wales country towns, and to improve the quality of Aboriginal
education. The AAF disbanded in 1969 when Aboriginal people were
moving to establish their own organisations.