Freedom Rights

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This Primary source is a telegram sent on the 20th of July, 1972. The telegram is from the President of the Australian Council of Churches, Bishop Garnsey and is addressed to the Australian Prime Minister who at this time was William McMahon. Bishop Garnsey is protesting the removal of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy that had occurred in the morning of the day that the letter was sent. Bishop Garnsey also addressed the fact that he supported the idea of an Aboriginal land rights legislation. The Aboriginal Embassy was first established when late on Australia Day 1972, four young Aboriginal men put up a beach umbrella on the lawns outside the Parliament House in Canberra, they held up a sign which read 'Aboriginal Embassy’. This action against the government became increasingly popular and the umbrella was soon replaced with more and more tents. On Thursday 20 July 1972, a police force of 150 marched towards the Embassy. The supporters linked arms around the tents and sang. The brawl between police and protesters was captured by television cameras for the evening news. The footage of the tents being violently torn down shocked the public and resulted in an increase of support for the Aboriginals. This source relates back to the topic of the Aboriginal civil rights movement as the Aboriginal tent embassy was a major event in the fight for Aboriginal rights in Australia. This is a very useful source as it shows you how much support the Aboriginal Australians received from the public during this time. This Primary source is a poster made to advertise the protests that the Aboriginal Australians had planned for the sesquicentenary of British colonisation of Australia. The protests were designed to stand in contrast to the Australia Day ce... ... middle of paper ... ...frican- American passengers. The boycott ended after 1 year when the US Supreme Court ordered the City of Montgomery to stop segregating black and white passengers on its bus services. This was a massive success for Rosa Parks and the African-American population. Parks became an important icon for the Civil Rights Movement and resistance to racial segregation, her success as well as that of Emmett Till and others were considered the beginning of the fight for equality, she also gave others the courage to stand up for their rights. This source is not very useful in giving correct information on Rosa Parks story as it is not a true image from the time it is just a recreation of how the illustrator imagined the event to look, however it does show the determination that Rosa Parks had and the way the white-Americans felt towards the African-Americans during the 1950’s.

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