In 1965, Ann Dennis was in grade 2 at Walgett Public School, she came into class one day after playing outside in the mud. Her teacher slapped her and told her she was a "dirty bxxng".   

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Ann is Aboriginal, her teacher was not. 

“She said to me that I couldn't be anything in life and it really stuck with me I think”. 

"Aboriginals didn’t have the right to vote back then. In our region, Aboriginal children were banned from swimming pools and Aboriginal adults from the top floor at local cinemas."

But things were slowly changing and the Freedom Ride was a turning point for our region. Now the Walgett community is working together to ensure everyone remembers.

“There was a section for us at the cinema. We had to sit out the front. Once there were three Aboriginal people arrested for purchasing a ticket to access the top floor,” Ms Dennis told the Western Plains App. 

“We weren't allowed to live in the town, we had to live on reserves without sewerage or running water.".

“We weren’t allowed to hunt for traditional food or even go fishing. If you got caught fishing you got removed and placed in another community 200 kilometres away so you couldn’t see your family…if you were granted a permit to live in town you had promise not to speak to your family which is devastating for an Aboriginal person”. 

ABOVE: Walgett shire councillor Anne Dennis. Image: Walgett Shire Council 

It was this culture - a culture and a policy of segregation and discrimination which led to the 1965 Freedom Ride.  

The Freedom Ride will now be officially commemorated after the NSW Liberal and Nationals Government announced the will provide more than $470,000 to Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service (WAMS) to plan and construct a memorial park to mark the event. 

Inspired by the American Civil Rights Movement, the Freedom Ride of 1965 was a journey undertaken by a group of young Australians in a bus across NSW led by activist Charles Perkins.

Its aim was to bring to the attention of the public the extent of racial discrimination in Australia. 

They visited Walgett because then returned serviceman who were Aboriginal were not allowed in the Walgett RSL. 

“They could march in the Anzac Day march, but they weren’t allowed inside the venue to have a drink, so many of the non-aboriginal soldiers they fought alongside would get drinks for them and take their drinks outside the RSL to drink with them” Ms Dennis explained. 

In 1962 Katie King*, who now lives in Brisbane, moved to Cobar from Victoria. 

“I do remember one day we were somewhere in Cobar when we first arrived, I can’t exactly remember where, it was somewhere around that area and we were sitting outside a swimming pool. 

"I would have been 6 or 7. I was sitting in the car with my Dad. I asked him “Dad why are all the Aboriginals sitting outside the swimming pool. Not realising we were Aboriginal. I have blue eyes and olive skin. I didn’t realise either that Aboriginals were not allowed in the pool. It was horrible”, she said.  

“I remember outside of Cobar there was a shanty town, exactly like you see in South Africa, a shanty town and that's were all the Aboriginals lived,” Ms King told the Western Plains App

“Later in life I came to understand why Mum pretended she was Italian. 

"When I went to school I gravitated toward the other Aboriginal children, if you look at school photos you’ll see black people on one side and white people on the other," she said.

"We always felt less than and inferior to white people. I guess this helped me understand why she drank - she felt ashamed of who she was and she wanted to escape those feelings"  

Anne Dennis did finish high school and went on to become a primary school teacher and University lecturer. She has been a councillor on Walgett Shire Council for three years. 

“The Freedom Ride really marked the start of things changing," she said. 

"In 1967 we had the referendum. Then things started to change in the 1970’s because of people like Charles Perkins and other people involved in the Freedom Ride. 

"Aboriginal people started protesting more. Land rights were granted, we were allowed to talk our language, practice our culture, embrace our identity. Land and sky connected” she said. 

ABOVE: Bus used for the 1965 Freedom Ride. Image: AIATSIS. 

The Walgett Freedom Ride Project will include a range of physical and digital artworks, yarning circles, a native garden, and Aboriginal bush foods and medicine.

WAMS has already purchased land in Walgett. Construction of the Walgett Freedom Ride Park will include planting, pathways, seating, signage, and security fencing. The Walgett Freedom Ride Project is expected to be completed in 2024. 

"There is a still long way to go" Ms Dennis said "But I just think it shows that we all need to work together for things to change". 

*names have been altered to protect anonymity.