SeptemberBackground and Context

Warm Up‘Social Justice is what faces you in the morning. It is awakening in a house with an adequate water supply, cooking facilities and sanitation. It is the ability to nourish your children and send them to school where their education not only equips them for employment but reinforces their knowledge and appreciation of their cultural inheritance. It is the prospect of genuine employment and good health: a life of choices and opportunity. A life free from discrimination.’ - Professor Mick Dodson, Australian of the Year 2009

• What are human rights? Why do you think human rights are important? Do you think all Australians enjoy equal rights? Work in pairs and make a list of points.

September Review

• In most regards, September could be considered a companion piece to Somersault and Romulus, My Father: the former for its haunting, ethereal tone; the latter for an acute sense of time and place.

In his debut, Tropfest supported feature, Peter Carstairs turns the clock back to 1968 in the Australian wheat-belt. It was a time when cinemas were still segregated and the year that legislation forced employers to pay Aborigines the same wage as white people. It is this social change and sense of injustice that forms the backbone to a story about friendship, and aspiration, in an era when man aimed for the moon.

Two fifteen-year-old boys are growing up side by side in different worlds – one is the son of a struggling farmer, the other the son of an Aboriginal farm labourer. Ed is getting an education; Paddy is not and sees his future with a boxing troupe. The boys are inseparable, and then Amelia arrives at school. There’s a touch of To Kill A Mockingbird about the narrative structure – the way in which small things quickly escalate, and how good men like Ed’s father sided with institutional racism against lifelong friends.

September is also a film about what’s not said – much more is conveyed in the elegant pauses than through sparse dialogue. It’s a perfect match for its time and location. A fresh cast give strong, credible performances though the film’s brilliance lies in its score and cinematography. Here runs a line of muted exchange as striking landscapes conduct a sublime underscore to the immediate drama.

Whether it is a school bus flying across the asphalt, or a lone tree being slowly drawn into focus, September is an exquisite film that doesn’t rely on devastating tragedy to make its point. It rewards patience.

• COLIN FRASER moviereview.com.au

Western Australia in the Sixties

• This film is set in the WA wheat belt region in 1968. It was a time of struggle for pastoralists (farmers) in the region due to various factors such as changing government regulations and economic conditions, oversupply of crops and drought.

• A national referendum in May 1967 approved amendments to the Constitution to allow Aboriginal people to be counted as part of the population. This was a time of major upheaval and increasing rights for Aboriginal people, but not without some resistance and dissent from the white population, particularly in places such as the farming community in the WA wheat belt.

Western Australia in the Sixties• Aboriginal pastoral workers were finally

being acknowledged under the federal Pastoral Industry Award, passed by the Holt government in 1966 but only enforced more than two years later under PM John Gorton. Good intentions lie behind the legislation — equal pay for indigenous workers — but there were some nasty consequences as the new laws would lead to further discrimination and displacement.

• "The prevailing view of that time among the pastoralists was, 'If I have to pay an Aboriginal person the same as I have to pay a white person to work on the property, I would rather employ a white person. So they began rounding up and basically kicking Aboriginal people off the properties. In some cases, rounding them up and literally taking them into towns and dumping them.“

- Peter Carstairs, Director of September

What rights did Aboriginal people have in the 1950s and 1960s?

• By the 1950s, the policy of governments in Australia towards indigenous Australians was assimilation. ‘Assimilation’ refers to the process by which Aboriginal people were to be absorbed into the culture and norms of Australian society, leaving behind their own culture and traditions. Assimilation policies regarding Aboriginal people were formally endorsed by all state governments from the 1930s to the 1960s.

• Assimilation policy was firmly rejected by Aboriginal organisations who pointed out the paradox of expecting Aborigines to become like the rest of the Australian community and at the same time imposing regulations about wages, living conditions and access to social security benefits which meant that Aboriginal people could never live like other Australians.

• Writing in Smoke Signals, the journal of the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, Shirley Andrews explains this paradox:

“A great deal of pompous nonsense is talked about the Aborigines being encouraged to “improve” his way of life until he will become completely acceptable to the rest of the community, but at the same time, wage discrimination against Aborigines is continued so that a large section of Aboriginal workers do not receive sufficient wages to maintain anything but a very sub-standard of living.”

What rights did Aborigines have in the 1950s and 1960s?

• Even through assimilation was ‘official’ policy, there were many barriers between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Many Aboriginal people were still legally wards of the State, and were treated like children who needed care. Many were still on reserves and missions, their lives at every level controlled by those in charge. Aboriginal people in rural areas were often discriminated against as to where and how they could marry, work, live and mix with others, and their movements were restricted.

• Although Aboriginal activists had struggled for citizenship rights in the 1930s and 1940s, and there had been some changes, Aboriginal people generally were still not able to exercise political rights like voting, civil rights like freedom of movement, or social rights to education and a decent standard of living.

• However, times were changing. In 1948, the newly formed United Nations adopted the Declaration of Human Rights. Australia was one of the first signatories to the Declaration and yet Indigenous Australians were still denied many of these rights. In the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights movements were beginning to occur overseas and Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal people was beginning to be noticed internationally.

• Some changes also occurred in Australia. In 1960, some social benefits (like pensions and maternity allowances) had been extended to include Aboriginal people. However, such changes were not promoted by the States and payments were often made to indirectly to missions and reserves, as officials argued that Aboriginal people were not yet ready to manage their own affairs. In 1962, the vote was granted to Aboriginal Australians – but voting was not made compulsory and there was little effort to inform or educate Aboriginal people, so many remained unaware of the change. By 1967 enrolment numbers were low, even on Government settlements.

The 1967 Referendum Campaign

• In arguing for a ‘Yes’ vote, the campaigners emphasised issues of inequality, the anomalies between states, and Australia’s international reputation. The campaigners also argued that being counted in the census would lead to better funding for Aboriginal people. The campaign also built on the publicity and goodwill generated by the Freedom Rides to encourage national awareness of Aboriginal living conditions and the discrimination they faced.

• The government ‘Yes’ case referred to ‘our international reputation in a world in which racial issues are being highlighted every day’ and the campaigners also frequently referred to Australia’s international image. At times, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights was cited, and the situation here was likened to that in the United States or even South Africa’s Apartheid policy. Newspapers repeatedly referred to the embarrassment the country would suffer internationally if the referendum was not passed.

The result

• The Referendum was held on 27 May 1967. To the delight of the campaigners, 90.77% of Australians voted ‘Yes’. This was an amazing achievement and represented a high level of community goodwill towards Aboriginal Australians. However, there were significant variations in voting, with Victoria returning the highest ‘Yes’ vote (94.68%, compared to Western Australia’s 80.95%) and the highest ‘No’ votes being recorded in the rural areas with the largest Aboriginal populations. This suggests that, in day-to-day life, attitudes of discrimination were continuing unchanged.

• What factors do you think would have contributed to such a strong voting result?

The aftermath

• Immediately afterwards, those who had worked so hard for constitutional change pressed for practical change as well.

• The government was slow to act but gradually more money was allocated to Aboriginal affairs and the Council for Aboriginal Affairs was set up. However, the achievement of equal citizenship rights took many more years and the quest for equal social and civil rights is ongoing to this day.

• Aboriginal people who had participated in the campaign went on to take stronger positions in their struggle for rights, especially land rights. The skills and confidence gained through the campaign were significant, as was the morale boost from its end result. The 1972 Tent Embassy was made possible because of the campaign.

• Since the 1970s, many Australians have hailed the 1967 Referendum as a watershed in the Indigenous struggle. It is celebrated as ‘black and white together’, a model for the reconciliation movement of the 1990s, and reflection of strong community goodwill.

• However, the current inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians remind us how much that goodwill still needs to be translated into real change.

Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers

Lionel Rose

• Lionel Rose (1948–2011), a bantamweight, stepped into the ring for title fights in the mid-1960s. He won the Australian bantamweight title in 1966, and at 20 years old, the world title from Fighting Harada in Tokyo in 1968, defending it twice.

• Lionel Rose was one of nine children from Drouin, Gippsland. He grew up in an Aboriginal settlement called Jackson's Track and nearby Warrugul, and watched his father box and heard his stories around the campfire as a 'gee' man travelling with Jimmy Sharman's boxing troupe.

Lionel Rose

• Rose was seen as an 'uncommonly sensible young man' acutely aware of the fates of earlier boxers, especially the Sands brothers and Elly Bennett, and the history of Sharman's boxing tents. Rose was introduced to George Bracken when he was 10 years old on a visit to Melbourne when Bracken was the lightweight champion of Australia.

• Soon after he left school at 14, Lionel earned a go at the Australian amateur flyweight title in Tasmania. The Orient Hotel in Warrugul took up a collection to pay his fare and clothes for the trip. Lionel won the title and then the Australian bantamweight title, when he was 18 years old.

• Rose was carefully managed by Jack and Shirley Rennie and trained in the backyard of their home in Melbourne. Rose's earnings went into investments, insurance and a sandwich shop before he headed off with the Rennies to Tokyo. The Japanese press nicknamed him the 'black kangaroo'. The American Sports Illustrated wrote of the 1968 fight in Tokyo, all across Australia that night people clung to radios as if the ringside announcer were Winston Churchill … women wept over Lionel Rose and men shouted ….Lionel Rose was Hercules, Charles Lindbergh and the Messiah all rolled into one.

Lionel Rose• Melbourne gave him an unprecedented

homecoming. From the airport to the Town Hall some 250,000 people massed, shouting 'Good on ya, Lionel! You beaut little Aussie!' Rose won more money than any other Australian fighter. He also spent, in his words, '$100,000 in one year on wine, women, and song'. Yet, Rose gave Aboriginal people a moment of glory, perhaps the greatest boost they have ever had.

• After Rose had retired from boxing he tried his hand at singing in Australia, and had a couple of hit songs in 1970. Rose also became a successful businessman.

• In 1987, at a conference at the MCG, Lionel Rose said that despite sporting achievements, 'the racism won't diminish: we are what we are'.

Time-line • 1901 The Commonwealth Constitution excludes the Commonwealth Government from Aboriginal affairs (Section

51) and from counting Aborigines in the census (Section 127). • 1902 The Commonwealth Franchise Act passed by the new Commonwealth Government takes away the right to

vote for most Aboriginal people. • 1937 First national native welfare conference agrees on assimilation policy. Aborigines’ Progressive Association

formed in NSW and, led by Bill Ferguson and Jack Patten, fights for citizenship rights for Aboriginal people. • 1938 Day of Mourning (marking 150 years of European settlement). Aboriginal deputation to Prime Minister

Lyons presents a ‘Long Range Policy for Aborigines’ which includes a Department of Aboriginal Affairs aimed at granting all Aborigines full citizenship status.

• 1945 Unemployment and sickness benefits are introduced. • 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights is proclaimed. Australia is one of the first signatories. • 1949 Nationality and Citizenship Act formally defines the term ‘Australian citizenship’. • Commonwealth Electoral Act extends voting rights to those Indigenous people who had been, or continued to be

members, of the Defence Forces. • 1958 Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginals (FCAA) is established (later changed to FCAATSI to

include Torres Strait Islanders). • 1959 Aborigines become eligible for pensions and maternity allowances if not ‘nomadic or primitive’, but group

payments are often made to reserves and missions instead.

• 1962 Commonwealth franchise extended to all Aboriginal people but voting not compulsory. • 1963 A protest is conducted over mining leases on Yirrkala Aboriginal reserve land. Bark petition is

presented to the Prime Minister. • 1965 Freedom Rides though NSW country towns. Bill to change the Constitution by referendum is

introduced in the House of Representatives. • 1966 Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission grants equal wages to Aboriginal pastoral

workers but with a three-year delay. Gurindji strike and walk off Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory, starting start a seven-year fight to obtain title to their land

• 1967 Referendum held to change Sections 51 and 127 of the Constitution, and give the Commonwealth Government power to make laws for Aboriginal people and include Aboriginal people in the national census.

• 1968 Commonwealth Office of Aboriginal Affairs set up, along with a Council of Aboriginal Affairs comprising Ministers from all States and Territories and the Commonwealth, to recommend policies and coordinate programs.

• 1971 Neville Bonner becomes the first Aboriginal Member of Parliament. Aborigines are included in the census for the first time. Northern Territory Supreme Court confirms terra nullius doctrine in Yirrkala land case decision. Queensland Aborigines no longer able to be forced to live on reserves.

• 1972 Prime Minister Billy McMahon rejects the idea of Aboriginal land rights in a speech. Tent Embassy established outside Parliament House, Canberra, lasting from January until July. Labor Government elected in December and sets up a Department of Aboriginal Affairs under Gordon Bryant.

• 1975 Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour, descent or ethnic origin. Queensland Aborigines become able to control their own property.

• 1976 Parliament passes the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act. • 1984 Voting in Commonwealth elections made compulsory for Indigenous Australians. • 1987-1991 Muirhead Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. • 1992 Mabo judgement in High Court rejects concept of terra nullius and recognises native title. • 1993 Native Title Act introduced. • 1997 National Inquiry completed into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children

from their families (Bringing Them Home Report). Wik judgement acknowledges the possible existence of Native Title rights on land under pastoral leases.

• 1998 Native Title Amendment Act (following the Wik debate).

Links

Jimmy Sharman’s Boxershttp://bytesdaily.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/five-minutes-of-history-jimmy-sharman_18.html

Lionel Rose http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/indigenous-athletes-and-boxers

Reviews and articles on the filmhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/film-reviews/september/2007/11/29/1196037047757.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/the-stoush-for-september/2007/07/29/1185647736703.html?page=fullpagehttp://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2086718.htm

1967 Referendumhttp://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/australian-1967-referendum