Ann Curthoys and Louise Higham interview May Copeland (Fenella Stanley) and Tottie Barlow (Bertha Saunders) at Moree Aboriginal Station, February 1965.

In 1964 a group of students from the University of Sydney formed into a body called the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA). The students’ attention had been drawn to issues of discrimination facing Aboriginal Australians after participating in protests in 1964 against racial segregation in the United States. After a period of planning and fund-raising, the students set off in February 1965 on a bus tour of regional New South Wales towns, inspired by the Freedom Rides that took place in the United States of America in 1961. Led by fellow student and Arrernte man Charles Perkins, SAFA had three key aims; to gather information in regards to the living conditions of the Aboriginal people in the communities they visited, protest against discrimination against Aboriginal people where they found it, and bring Aboriginal issues to the attention of mainstream consciousness by attracting a media spotlight to the experiences of Aboriginal people. SAFA also hoped to encourage and support Aboriginal people themselves to resist discrimination.  

Photo caption: Ann Curthoys and Louise Higham interview May Copeland (Fenella Stanley) and Tottie Barlow

The full catalogue record is online at http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110366669.