The fact that Indigenous Australians have experienced maltreatment and a deprivation of their civil liberties for generations is well-documented. In discussing the ways in which Aboriginal people and their white supporters promoted Civil Rights and Indigenous Rights in Australia from the late 1950s through to 1972, this essay will provide a representative rather than comprehensive treatment. It will begin with a brief overview of the state of affairs leading up to the late 1950s. The notion of ‘rights’ as well as the campaigns and strategies employed to advance those rights in regard to Indigenous Australians, as well as the repeal the laws which denied them their civil liberties, will be discussed. Part of the struggle revolved around land
