On the road to justice: remembering the Freedom Ride

February marks the 60-year anniversary of the historic bus ride around NSW.

Inspired by the Freedom Rides and civil rights movement in the United States, 29 students including Arrente/Kalkadoon man Charles Perkins set off on a bus tour from the University of Sydney in 1965.

In this photograph, the bus taken by the ‘Student Action for Aborigines’ group is outside Hotel Boggabilla in northern NSW.

Credit: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, courtesy SEARCH Foundation

The tour aimed to expose the racism experienced by Aboriginal people, including segregation and exclusion.

The group visited 16 regional towns in 15 days.

In Walgett, the bus was run off the road by angry locals.

In this photograph, students prepared picket signs in Walgett.

Credit: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, courtesy SEARCH Foundation

The Freedom Ride is now widely recognised as one of Australia’s most significant civil rights protests.

"The protest had a lasting impact in the regional communities the bus visited and influenced the civil rights and self-determination movement in Redfern in the 1970s,” Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore AO said.

“Our exhibition is another way to mark the legacy and impact of the Freedom Ride, 60 years on.”

In this photograph, students hold up their banner at Inverell airport.

Credit: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, courtesy SEARCH Foundation

Visit our exhibition ‘On the road to justice: Remembering the Freedom Ride’

In this photograph, Charles Perkins interviews Aboriginal men in Walgett.

See more photographs from this defining moment in Australian history at our exhibition at 119 Redfern Street.

The exhibition also includes contemporary portraits and oral histories of people who were there.

Credit: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, courtesy SEARCH Foundation