Aborigines Advancement League

The Aborigines Advancement League Inc.,[1] founded in 1957 as the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League (VAAL)[2] also formerly known as Aborigines Advancement League (Victoria), Aborigines Advancement League and Aboriginal Advancement League), is the oldest Aboriginal rights organisation in Australia still in operation.[3] It is primarily concerned with Aboriginal welfare issues and the preservation of Aboriginal culture and heritage, and is based in Melbourne.

Not to be confused with the Aborigines Advancement League of South Australia.
Aborigines Advancement League
NicknameAAL
PredecessorAustralian Aborigines' League & Save the Aborigines Committee
Formation1957
Founded atMelbourne
PurposeIndigenous rights campaigning
Location
  • Melbourne
Region
Victoria, Australia
WebsiteAAL
Formerly called
Victorian Aborigines Advancement League

History

The League was established in 1957 as a response to an enquiry by retired magistrate, Charles McLean, into the circumstances of Aboriginal Victorians. McLean was critical of conditions in the Lake Tyers and Framlingham Aboriginal Reserves. McLean recommended that persons of mixed Aboriginal and European descent be removed from the reserves. The people of Lake Tyers objected to this, and the League was formed out of their campaign.[4]

The new League drew from two already existing organisations, the Australian Aborigines League, established 1934[5] and the Save the Aborigines Committee, which had been established in 1955 as a response to the Warburton Ranges crisis.[3] Founding President of the League was Gordon Bryant, with Doris Blackburn as Deputy President, Stan Davey as Secretary and Douglas Nicholls as Field Officer.[3]

An umbrella national organisation, the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement when founded in February 1958 in Adelaide, South Australia, but the Aborigines Advancement League of South Australia (AALSA) finally disaffiliated in 1966, because it thought the federal organisation was too centred on Victoria.[6]

Early activities included lobbying for a referendum to change the Australian constitution to allow the Federal government to legislate on Aboriginal affairs, and an establishing a legal defence fund for Albert Namatjira, after he was charged with supplying liquor to an Aboriginal ward.[3] By 1967 it had moved to being fully controlled by Aboriginal people with Bill Onus as the first Aboriginal President.[7] From 1975 to 1983, a salaried director of the Aboriginal Advancement League was Elizabeth Maud Hoffman becoming the organizations longest serving director.[8]

Publications

Smoke Signals is the official magazine of the AAL, first published in April 1960 and still being published as of 2019. The first editor was Pastor Doug Nicholls.[9][10]

Current activities

The League provides a number of services to Koorie people, including family support, food assistance, home visits, advocacy, counselling and educational programs, drug and alcohol awareness and funeral services. It also has a Cultural Unit that provides information and speakers for schools.[11]

Smoke Signals. ISSN 0049-0776. OCLC 220165347.CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) is the official magazine of the AAL. Commencing publication in April 1960, it continues to the present day (as of 2011).[12]

Headquarters and keeping place

In 1999 the Victorian government completed a $2,790,000 renovation of the Leagues headquarters in Watt St., Thornbury. As well as providing a community facility, the building houses a museum and "keeping place" for items of historical, cultural and spiritual importance to Aboriginal people.[13]

References
  1. "Aborigines Advancement League Inc". State Government of Victoria. Dept. Human Services. Human Services Directory.
  2. "Victorian Aborigines Advancement League". Melbourne: the city, past and present. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  3. "Victorian Aborigines Advancement League". Archived from the original on 18 March 2012.
  4. Aboriginal Advancement League (ATNS)
  5. Australian Aborigines League – Institution – Reason in Revolt:Australian Aborigines League (1934- )
  6. Kerin, Rani (2017). "6. Adelaide-based activism in the mid-twentieth century: Radical respectability". In Brock, Peggy; Gara, Tom (eds.). Colonialism and its Aftermath: A history of Aboriginal South Australia. Wakefield Press. p. 115. ISBN 9781743054994.
  7. Onus, William Townsend (Bill) (1906–1968) Biographical Entry – Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
  8. "Who is Elizabeth Morgan". EMHAWS.ORG.AU. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  9. "Magazine - Smoke Signals, Aborigines Advancement League, vol. 1, no.1, April 1960". Museum Victoria. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  10. Aborigines Advancement League (Vic.) (1957), Smoke signals, Published for the Aborigines' Advancement League by Associated Publicity Services, ISSN 0049-0776
  11. ourcommunity.com.au – Directory of Organisations Archived September 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Magazine - Smoke Signals, Aborigines Advancement League, Vol. 1, No. 1, Apr 1960". Museum Victoria. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  13. Minister opens refurbished Aborigines Advancement League (2/7/99) Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

Further reading
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