Topic

History

This topic focuses on Australian social movement history. There is so much to learn from the stories of past collective action for social and ecological justice. Learning social movement history can provide insights about strategy, a vast toolbox of potential tactics, and abundant inspiration.

Gary Foley leaning on a tower of publications

Performing Political History: An interview with Gary Foley

An interview with Professor Gary Foley about using creative practice to bring attention to the political challenges facing Aboriginal people in Australia.

Activism and the Power of Humour

This paper uses Australian case studies to demonstrate the continued evolution of the use of humour in environmental, peace, and social justice movements.

Stop Jabiluka, Stop Uranium Mining, Reclaim the Future. Symbol of a hand print on background of a nuclear symbol.

Sign Language: The story of the Jabiluka symbol

The artist’s story of how the Stop Jabiluka hand symbol was designed and developed and grew to become a symbol for the anti-nuclear movement.

Protestor dressed as an angel with large feathered wings, white dress and white makeup, sitting on a timber tripod surrounded by trees.

Listen and Watch to 40 years of Australian Blockading Songs

A list of songs from the last 40 years of the environmental movement in Australia including the Terania and Franklin River blockades.

Cyclists at a critical mass event hold their bicycles above their heads.

Pranks, performances and protestivals: Public Events

Creative tactics for social change: A number of examples of fun, empowering and engaging actions incorporating a creative approach.

Enabling Emergence: The Bentley Blockade and the Struggle for a Gasfield Free Northern Rivers

A case study and theoretical examination of nonviolent direct action against fracking in the Northern Rivers Region in Australia.

30 years of Creative Resistance

’30 years of Creative Resistance’ is a compilation of writing and art celebrating the work of Friends of the Earth Australia over the last thirty years.

screenshot of the first page of Bayard Rustin's organising manual for the march on washington in 1963

Organising Manual for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963

This organizing manual was written by Bayard Rustin & distributed for the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest civil rights rallies in US history.

From Little Things Big Things Grow: Events That Changed Australia

From little things big things grow – From little actions to big events that changed Australia. Here is a list from the 1700s to the present.

Dockworkers in Australia, pictured here alongside other trade union members in a march through central Melbourne, acted in solidarity with South African workers in the 1980s. Reuters

Lessons that can be learnt from dockworkers who helped bring apartheid to its knees

Article about the transnational solidarity activism of maritime unions and how the actions of dockworkers in Australia helped drive the local and national anti-apartheid movement.

What we can learn from the LGBTQ movement’s 50 years of achievement

Despite pain, loss, disruption and grave threats, the LGBTQ movement — decade after decade — launched new campaigns for more advanced goals and won.

Effective Action for Social Change: The Campaign to Save the Franklin River

Learn lessons from one of the largest & most successful nonviolent direct action environmental protests in Australian history – the Franklin River campaign.

Uncle Kevin Buzzacott stands in front of a large banner depicting a black hand against a red and yellow nuclear symbol.

Interview with Kevin Buzzacott

Kevin Buzzacott is a key figure in the opposition to the South Australian Olympic Dam mine and the nuclear industry in general. In this interview he outlines a number of the creative actions he has taken part in as part of a series of campaigns addressing the issues of dispossession and Aboriginal sovereignty.

Treesits, lock-ons and barricades: Environmental blockading in the 1980s

From 1979 to the 1990s Australia, Canadian and American activists took part in a series of environmental blockades to defend old growth forests, rivers and other biodiverse places. Join Iain McIntyre for a series of conversations with the blockaders who took part in these campaigns.

Always look on the bright side of life: The AIDEX ’91 story

In 1991 over 1000 protesters blockaded the National Exhibition Centre in Canberra with the goal of shutting down the Australia International Defence Exhibition. This book includes a detailed account of the blockade, the context of the growth of the Australian arms industry, and the words of the protesters themselves.

Green Bans

In the 1970s Sydney builders labourers refused to work on projects that were environmentally or socially undesirable. This green bans movement, as it became known, was the first of its type in the world.

Black and white photograph of four protestors standing in front of Old Parliament House. Placards read 'Land Ownership Not Lease', 'Land Rights or Else!', 'Why Pay to Use Our Own Land', 'Which Do You Choose: Land Rights or Bloodshed?'. 'Legally This is Our Land. We Shall Take It If Need Be'.

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established in 1972 when the Coalition Government failed to recognise the land rights of Indigenous people. From its inception, the Embassy has been interwoven into Canberra’s physical and political landscape, blending black politics, symbolism and theatre that opponents have found difficult to counter.

Black and white photograph of a large crowd of protestors. Banners include 'Vietnam Moratorium Campaign' and 'Stop the Country to Stop the War'.

The Vietnam War

Case study of the Australian campaign against involvement in the Vietnam War. The emergence of popular protest in Australia during the 1960s presented a fundamental challenge to government decisions and the way those decisions are made. By taking to the streets people challenged the policy positions of government and, in some cases, the very legitimacy and authority of the state itself.

Black and white photograph of protestors standing next to bus.

The Freedom Ride

The Freedom Ride through western New South Wales towns in February 1965 drew attention to the racism in these towns. Aboriginal student Charles Perkins was, by the end of the journey, a national figure in the fight for Aboriginal rights.

Black and white photograph of Mau leaders sitting in front of a building.

The Mau Movement for Samoan Independence

Case study of the long struggle for Samaon independence which was ultimately successful in 1962. The Mau movement had its origins, in 1908, in a dispute between the German colonial administration and the Maloa o Samoa, or Samoan Council of Chiefs, over the establishment of a copra business owned and controlled by native Samoans.