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This is an Australian track.
National Heritage List inscription date 6 September 2013
The Moree Baths and Swimming Pool Complex is of outstanding heritage value to the nation.
During the 1965 Freedom Ride through outback New South Wales, a stark example of official segregation was encountered in the exclusion of Aboriginal people from the swimming pool. The protests brought racial discrimination to the attention and consciousness of the wider community and forced non-aboriginal Australians to examine their attitudes to Aboriginal Australians.
Dr Charles Nelson Perrurle Perkins AO rose to national prominence as a leading Indigenous-rights activist initially through the Freedom Rides and the events at Moree Baths. Dr Perkins remained an iconic figure for Indigenous rights and was honoured for his commitment to the advancement of Aboriginal people in Australia.
Freedom Ride
Inspired by the Freedom Rides in America, the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA)-led by Indigenous student activist Charles Perkins-decided to visit by bus rural towns in New South Wales and southern Queensland. The Freedom Riders aimed to draw attention to inadequacies in health and housing and to support Aboriginal people in challenging the status quo. The Freedom Riders adopted Martin Luther King’s approach of non-violent resistance.
The Freedom Ride bus set off from the University of Sydney in February 1965 with 29 students. The first stop was Wellington, followed by Gulargambone and Walgett. The Freedom Riders, along with local Aboriginal activists, protested at the Walgett Returned and Services League’s (RSL) club, which refused membership to Aboriginal ex-servicemen. Protesters picketed the Walgett RSL from noon to sunset holding placards stating ‘Good enough for Tobruk - why not Walgett RSL?’. The picket line provoked heated debate and anger in the “white” community. As the Freedom Riders left Walgett, two attempts were made to run the bus off the road.
Moree Baths and Swimming Pool Complex
The Freedom Riders arrived in Moree on 19 February 1965.
Moree was the first place the Freedom Riders had encountered a by-law that made racial discrimination against Indigenous people official. A Moree Council by-law prevented Indigenous people from entering the Moree Baths and Pool.
Charles Perkins and the Freedom Riders collected a number of children from the mission and attempted to gain entry into the pool. This led to three hours of heated negotiations and during this time a large and hostile crowd gathered. Fights broke out, people were knocked over, punches and eggs were thrown at the protesters and several arrests were made.
Contemporary media reports compared the events at Moree Baths as being "little different from the American South". The protests and picket line at the Moree Baths was the best known and most photographed event of the Freedom Ride. The protest ended when Moree Council rescinded the 1955 by-law.
The events at the Moree Baths were a seminal moment in the Australian Indigenous civil rights movement. It captured the attention of the media and the issue of injustice to Aboriginal people was brought to the attention of all Australians. While there were other confrontations during the Freedom Ride, notably at Kempsey and Bowraville, the events at Moree have come to symbolise the Freedom Ride.
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