The Australian Aborigines' League was established in Melbourne, Australia, in 1933 by William Cooper and others, including

Margaret Tucker Margaret Lilardia Tucker MBE (28 March 1904 – 23 August 1996) was an Aboriginal Australian activist and writer who was among the first Aboriginal authors to publish an autobiography, in 1977. Early life Margaret Tucker was born at Warr ...

, Eric Onus, Anna and Caleb Morgan, and Shadrach James (son of

Thomas Shadrach James Thomas Shadrach James (1 September 1859 – 9 January 1946), born Thomas Shadrach Peersahib, was a Methodist lay preacher, linguist and herbalist. However, it was as a teacher, first at Maloga Aboriginal Mission and later at Cummeragunja Reserve, ...

and

brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred ...

of Cooper). Cooper was secretary of the League. In a letter to the editor of ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'', Cooper wrote "The plea of our league is a fair deal for the dark race". The League campaigned for the repeal of discriminatory legislation and for programs to "uplift the aboriginal race".Australian Aborigines' League
/ref> An early initiative by the League was to petition King George V in 1933 for Indigenous Australians to be represented in the

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

, among other requests. 1,814 signatures were collected on the petition, although it was reported that Cooper believed many Aboriginal people living on missions and reserves were too afraid to add their signature. In 1938 it joined the New South Wales-based

Aborigines Progressive Association The Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) was an Aboriginal Australian rights organisation in New South Wales that was founded and run by William Ferguson and Jack Patten from 1937 to 1944, and was then revived from 1963 until around 1970 by ...

in staging a

Day of Mourning A national day of mourning is a day or days marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of ...

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Jac ...

(26 January) in Sydney to draw attention to the treatment of Aborigines and to demand full citizenship and equal rights. Mr. W. Ferguson, organising secretary of the Aborigines' Progressive Association of New South Wales, said of the planned national day of mourning: "The aborigines do not want protection... We have been protected for 150 years, and look what has become of us. Scientists have studied us and written books about us as though we were some strange curiosities, but they have not prevented us from contracting tuberculosis and other diseases, which have wiped us out in thousands". In 1939 the League also supported the mass walk-off at

Cummeragunja Reserve Cummeragunja Reserve or Cummeragunja Station, alternatively spelt Coomeroogunja, Coomeragunja, Cumeroogunga and Cummerguja, was a settlement on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, on the Victorian border near Barmah. It was also ref ...

, an Aboriginal reserve. On 6 December 1938, following the

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

known as Kristallnacht in Germany, a delegation of League members, led by Cooper, went to the German

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth co ...

in Melbourne with a petition protesting against the "cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government of Germany". This was one of the first protests against the Nazis' actions in the world. The League was less active after Cooper's death in 1941 but was revived after the Second World War by Douglas Nicholls and by Eric and

Bill Onus William Townsend Onus Jnr (15 November 1906 – 10 January 1968) was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, designer, and showman, also known for his boomerang-throwing skills. He was father of artist Lin Onus. Early life and educat ...

. In the 1960s it became the Victorian branch of the

Aborigines Advancement League The Aboriginal Advancement League was founded in 1957 as the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League (VAAL), is the oldest Aboriginal rights organisation in Australia still in operation. Its precursor organisations were the Australian Abori ...

References

{{Authority control 1934 establishments in Australia Organisations serving Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australian politics History of Indigenous Australians

See also

References