The Freedom Ride Analysis

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The Freedom Ride was a bus tour that occurred in February of 1965, visiting regional towns in New South Wales (Informit EduTV, 2015) with the intention of drawing attention to the inequalities faced by Indigenous Australians. The Freedom Ride was organised by a group of 34 students from the University of Sydney, under the name of ‘Student Action For Aborigines’ (SAFA) and was led by one of the two Indigenous students in the group; Charles Perkins (Galligan & Roberts, 2007). These students were inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States of American in 1961, which aimed to fight against segregation, particularly on busses and in bus terminals, as well as police brutality towards African-Americans (Galligan & Roberts, 2007).

The main inequalities being challenged by the Freedom Riders included the gap in Indigenous
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Shortly after the Freedom Riders returned to Sydney, there was an increase in funding towards Aboriginal peoples, for their communities and services, and Aboriginal art in the forms of paintings and dance received more exposure (Galligan & Roberts, 2007).

Another short-term effect of the Freedom Ride is its contribution to the development of the 1967 referendum, in which the public voted to include Aboriginal people in the census, and to allow the Federal government to legislate for Aboriginal people (Galligan & Roberts, 2007). The Freedom Ride assisted in facilitating a discussion among Australians about the rights of Indigenous Australians, and encouraged more people to become active in the quest for equal rights for Indigenous Australians. This raised awareness of new and existing campaigns, therefore increasing their positive

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