City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

More documents

Recommendations

Info

DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2Anstey was a shining light in the Labor Party in the northern suburbs, and is one of the reasonswhy the people in many of these suburbs have in this century turned traditionally to that party torepresent them (Forster, 1968:78).A station on the Upfield line, within the neighbouring municipality of Moreland, is named inAnstey’s honour.In 1915, the local branch of the ALP endorsed their first candidate for Northcote Council, theyoung Westgarth greengrocer John Cain, who served as a Councillor until 1927. Cain alsowon the state seat of Jika Jika in 1917. Cain represented the area in parliament for 40 years,serving three terms as Victoria’s Premier -1945-47, 1952-55. His last term was from March toJune 1955, when Labor lost office, remaining in opposition until 1982. In that year Cain’s sonJohn formed a new Labor government and held office as Premier until 1991. John Cain Seniorlived in Northcote throughout his whole political career. His family home was in James Street.The John Cain Memorial Park was named in his honour after his death in 1957. Cain wassucceeded in the seat by another Northcote Councillor, Frank Wilkes, who became Leader ofthe Victorian Labor Party in the Victorian Parliament in 1977, but was replaced as leader byJohn Cain Junior in 1981 (Lemon, 1983:173, 179, 204, 266-70).Aboriginal Self DeterminationAs noted in Chapter 2, Aboriginal people began to migrate to metropolitan Melbourne fromcountry areas in the 1920s. Two of these people, William Cooper and Douglas Nicholls, whowould go on to become leading Aboriginal political figures, moved to Footscray and Northcoterespectively. The organisations founded by Cooper and Nicholls - the Australian AboriginesLeague and the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League - are closely connected, as were themen themselves, and both are intimately connected with the City of Darebin.William Cooper arrived in Melbourne in 1932 and soon after founded the AustralianAborigines League -an entirely Aboriginal organisation whose foundation members alsoincluded Douglas Nicholls. Cooper instigated a petition to the King for Aboriginalrepresentation within the Federal Parliament. As a further step in this cause, Cooper led adeputation in 1935, which again included Doug Nicholls, to the Federal Minister for theInterior with clear demands including direct Aboriginal representation in Federal and StateParliaments, the establishment of a Federal Department of Native Affairs, and theestablishment of an advisory council in each State to assist the protectors of Aborigines. Inmany ways Cooper’s methods - of petition, deputation and correspondence - were followingwell established methods of protest which had been employed by Aboriginal people since theearly and mid nineteenth Century in areas such as Flinders Island and by the residents ofCoranderrk in both the 1860s and the 1880s.All of these demands were ignored but Cooper and AAL continued to collect signatures for thepetition and strove to direct public attention to Aboriginal issues, with initiatives such as thefirst Aboriginal Day of Mourning in 1938, to coincide with the 150 th anniversary of the arrivalof the first fleet.After the death of William Cooper in 1942, the AAL’s activities were slowed by the diversionof the Second World War. However, Doug Nicholls continued mission work with the Churchof Christ Missions in Fitzroy, and political lobbying, alternating direct protest and greatsubtlety, on issues such as the Rocket Range Protest Committee (protesting the governmentsplans to establish a rocket range in Central Australia which would impact on the Great CentralReserve and the Warburton Ranges Mission), formally writing to Prime Ministers seekingAboriginal Parliamentary representation, and personally driving a move to have Aboriginalinvolvement in Celebrations of Victoria’s Centenary of self-government in 1951.The Victorian Aborigines Advancement League formed in 1957 after Doug Nicholls renewedhis involvement with the Warburton Ranges Mission, bringing back to Melbourne films of theappalling conditions of Aborigines on the mission after rocket and atomic testing had begunten years prior. The formation of the League was also prompted by the tabling in Victorian92
VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYparliament of a report by Charles McLean, which, amongst other things led to the creation in1958 of a new Aborigines Welfare Board (thereby replacing the Aborigines Protection Board).Following this, Doug Nicholls and a number of prominent politicians and church leadersincluding Doris Blackburn, Gordon Bryant and Stan Davey formed the League. Aboriginalleaders such as Margaret Tucker, Geraldine Briggs and William and Eric Onus were alsoinvolved with the VAAL from the beginning. The formation of the League was a response tothe threat posed by the assimilation policies set out in the McLean report, which ‘heightenedthe need for a broad-based umbrella organisation that could deal with Aboriginal needs onmany fronts’ (Landon, 2006:26-7).The League’s major aim was integration rather than assimilation and it aimed to establish ageneral policy of advancement of Aboriginal people. Doug Nicholls worked as the full timefield officer, seeking employment, legal advice, assistance and other practical support forAboriginal people. One of the most important early initiatives of the VAAL was the formationof the Federal Council of Aboriginal Advancement. The FCAA objectives included thegranting of equal citizenship rights to Aboriginal people, and the Council was instrumental inlobbying for the 1967 referendum on Aboriginal civil rights and Federal control of Aboriginalaffairs.Just prior to the formation of the League, Doug Nicholls and his wife Gladys had beeninvolved in the establishment of an Aboriginal girls’ hostel. A Hostel Committee was formed in1956 to raise funds for the purchase of a former Anglican vicarage at 56 Cunningham Street,Northcote. Work was well underway on converting the building into a hostel when the VAALformed, and the Hostel committee and VAAL merged in 1957. A boys’ hostel was openednearby in 1963, another at Nathalia and a Holiday house at Queenscliff. The League built itsown headquarters, the Doug Nicholls Centre, next door to the hostel at 58 Cunningham Streetin 1966, and this building became a focus of Aboriginal community and political life.In 1962, the Australian Aborigines League was reformed as the Aboriginal branch of theVAAL, with all Aboriginal membership. Initially the AAL acted in the same capacity as mostother VAAL branches - and in particular arranged socials and dances at the Doug NichollsCentre and an annual Aboriginal Ball at the Northcote Town Hall. The Aboriginal branchbecame more vocal through the 1960s, and the era of broader social and political changesworldwide of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Changes in the VAAL were marked by increasedAboriginal management, and an increasingly strident position on issues of Aboriginal selfdeterminationsuch as land rights, compensation for lost land, culture and language, Aboriginalmanagement of all organizations associated with Aboriginal welfare, and full consultation withAborigines on Aboriginal issues. However, throughout this period and to the present, theVAAL continued to focus heavily on Aboriginal welfare and social needs.By the early 1980s, with the construction of the VAAL’s new headquarters in Watt Street,Thornbury, an important symbol of land rights in Victoria emerged. The title to the land onwhich the building stands was transferred to the League by the State Government under theAboriginal Lands (Aborigines Advancement League) (Watt Street Northcote) Act 1982 and theAboriginal Land (Northcote Land) Act 1989 (Broome, 2005a:300-2, 330-346; VAAL, 1985:27-68, 85-112; Attwood & Markus, 1999:30-5).93
Page 1 and 2:
City of DarebinHeritage StudyVolume
Page 3 and 4:
CONTENTSVOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONM
Page 5 and 6:
VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HI
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50: VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HI
Page 99: VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HI
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
3.14.1: Building to suit Australian
Page 169 and 170:
7.6.3: Policing Australia7.6.4: Dis
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
CRITERION E:VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVI
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179:
show all

City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?