Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association facts for kids
This image was used to identify the AAPA and act as a symbol of Aboriginal activism.
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| Founded | 1924 |
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| Founder | Fred Maynard |
| Defunct | 1927 |
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Area served
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NSW Australia |
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Key people
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Fred Maynard, Tom Lacey, J. Johnstone, James Linwood, Joe Anderson, Elizabeth McKenzie-Hatton |
The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association (AAPA) was an important group for Indigenous Australians in the 1920s. It focused on Aboriginal rights and was started in 1924 in Sydney, NSW. The group stopped working in 1927. The AAPA is known as the first Aboriginal activist group to unite across Australia. At its busiest, the AAPA had over 600 members. It also had 13 main branches and 4 smaller branches in NSW.
The main goals of the AAPA were to stop Aboriginal children from being taken from their families. They also wanted Indigenous Australians to have the same rights as other people. They worked to keep Indigenous culture strong and help Aboriginal people become financially independent. This included getting their land back. In its first six months, about 500 people joined the group. The AAPA wanted the NSW Aboriginal Protection Board to be removed. They believed that Indigenous people should be in charge of their own matters.
Contents
History of the AAPA
The AAPA was founded in 1924 by Fred Maynard. It was publicly announced the next year. The group's main goal was to protect the rights of Aboriginal people. Maynard had been part of another group, the Coloured Progressive Association, ten years earlier. He and co-leader Tom Lacey were inspired by Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey.
The group started in Surry Hills, Sydney. It grew to have 11 branches across New South Wales. It also had over 500 active members. The AAPA campaigned against the NSW Aborigines Protection Board (APB). They wanted Indigenous rights to land, identity, and citizenship. They also fought to end the taking of Aboriginal children from their homes.
The AAPA was formed because Aboriginal people had been treated unfairly for a long time. In 1788, when Europeans arrived, Indigenous Australians faced new diseases, violence, and loss of their land. This led to a big drop in the Indigenous population. Their culture was also slowly taken away. The Aborigines Protection Act 1909 was introduced later. It aimed to "protect" Indigenous Australians through a policy called assimilation. This act gave power to groups like the NSW APB. In 1915, a change to the act allowed children under 21 to be removed. This removal of children is known as the Stolen Generations.
The government said removing Indigenous children was to help them. They wanted to protect children from neglect and make them live like European Australians. This policy lasted from the 1910s to the 1970s. About 1 in 3 Indigenous children were taken from their homes. Once removed, children were forced into European society. They were not allowed to speak their Indigenous language or practice their culture. Their names and identities were sometimes changed. Many of these children faced abuse and mistreatment. This unfair treatment was a big reason why the AAPA was created. They wanted to speak out against the government. Also, land given to Indigenous Australians was cut in half. It went from 26,000 acres to 13,000 acres between 1913 and 1927. This forced many families to leave their homelands.
Key People in the AAPA
Fred Maynard
Fred Maynard was born in 1879. He was the founder and leader of the AAPA. Maynard was a Worimi man. He wanted to speak out against the unfair treatment of Aboriginal people. In 1916, his uncle Tom Phillips, an Aboriginal farmer, had his reserve land taken by the NSW Aborigines Protection Board. Indigenous people were then completely stopped from using it. Maynard became a leader because he was a good public speaker. He used his skills to share the concerns of Indigenous Australians. Because he spoke so strongly against the NSW APB, he was stopped from speaking on Aboriginal reserves.
Maynard knew people from the Coloured Progressive Association (CPA). This group worked in Sydney from 1903 to 1919. He was also inspired by Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association. Maynard and Lacey learned from Garvey's leadership style. They liked his message about cultural pride. This led them to form the AAPA in 1924.
"We want to work out our own destiny. Our people have not had the courage to stand together in the past, but now we are united, and are determined to work for the preservation for all of those interests, which are near and dear to us.” - Fred Maynard
J. Johnstone
J. Johnstone was the vice-president of the AAPA. His family had settled the Wingham reserve in 1882. But in 1921, it was taken away from them. Johnstone was also part of another Aboriginal Association later on. That group was led by Bill Ferguson.
James Linwood
James Linwood was another important member of the AAPA. He also lost his 20 acres of land in 1924 after the land was taken back. Linwood was a skilled public speaker. He was the first person to speak to the AAPA members at their first meeting in 1925. Over 500 Indigenous Australians attended this meeting. The conference was held in Surry Hills, Sydney. It got the attention of the public, the news, and the authorities.
Joe Anderson
Joe Anderson and his brothers were also members of the AAPA. They lost their land in 1924 in the Burragorang valley. This forced their family to move to Sydney and leave their homeland. This motivated Anderson to become an activist for the AAPA. Anderson wrote speeches and joined rallies with the AAPA. He demanded equality around Sydney in the 1920s.
Elizabeth McKenzie-Hatton
Elizabeth McKenzie-Hatton was a European woman who supported the AAPA. She traveled around NSW to share the group's message. She helped by funding homes for young Aboriginal girls. These homes were controlled by the AAPA. They offered a safe place for girls escaping difficult situations at their workplaces. These homes were against the government's policies. Because of this, the Protection Board asked the police to harass and watch the homes constantly. The homes started in 1924 and closed in 1925.
Within six months, the AAPA had made a big difference. McKenzie-Hatton wrote over 600 letters to the media and other important people. She spent more than 40 pounds on travel. She traveled over 5,000 miles. McKenzie-Hatton helped gain support for Aboriginal people around the world.
Protests and Activities
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The AAPA was the first time Australia saw Aboriginal political protests. This made the group's actions very important. The organization led protests and street rallies. They tried to change Australia's political system to support the rights of Indigenous Australians. They held conferences, wrote to newspapers, and sent petitions to political leaders. The AAPA held three more conferences each year before they stopped working. One conference in Kempsey lasted three days. About 700 people attended this three-day conference. Aboriginal groups and individuals spoke there.
At the Kempsey meeting, representatives from the Northern Rivers region attended. The goal of this conference was to discuss the best ways to help the AAPA grow. Eugene Miranda, President of the Kempsey branch of the AAPA, opened the conference. He spoke about his strong feelings for the group and his connections to it. John Donovan represented Nambucca Heads. After returning from a conference in Sydney, he brought people together to form a new branch. This helped the AAPA expand. Mr. Flanders represented Bowraville. This branch was financially stable. They decided to help fund the AAPA by holding cricket matches for young men. Mr. Shannan, representing Maclean, also promoted the AAPA's values in his branch.
“As it is the proud boast of Australia that every person born beneath the Southern Cross is born free, irrespective of origin, race, colour, creed, religion or any other impediment. We the representatives of the original people, in conference assembled, demand that we shall be accorded the same full right and privileges of citizenship as are enjoyed by all other sections of the community”. - Fred Maynard
The organization was inspired by the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). They learned from its leader, Marcus Garvey, how to get government attention. The AAPA held street marches and meetings like the UNIA. They also put articles in local newspapers to get public attention. Maynard's presence in newspapers led the Protections Board to stop him from visiting and speaking on Aboriginal reserves.
J. J. Maloney, the editor of Newcastle paper The Voice of North, was a friend of Maynard. Maloney published Maynard's writings in his newspaper. These articles were about Aboriginal rights and wanting self-sufficiency and Indigenous governance. They raised concerns about the unfair treatment of Aboriginal Australians. They also spoke about how ineffective the NSW APB was.
The End of the AAPA
The association stopped working by the end of 1927. John Maynard, Fred Maynard's grandson and an Aboriginal studies scholar, believes the main reason for the AAPA's end was police harassment. The police were acting on behalf of the APB. The Inspector General of New South Wales Police was also the chairman of the APB. AAPA members were threatened by police with jail or having their children taken away. The APB also spread false stories about AAPA members in newspapers. They especially targeted Fred Maynard. They gave biased information about them to powerful men, like NSW Premier Jack Lang. The exact reason for the AAPA's end is still discussed. Many think it was because of the rise of the Great Depression. Maynard's children believe it was because their father had less work. An elder from Uralla, Reuben Kelly, thought it was because Maynard was not persuasive enough.
Impact of the AAPA
The association is not talked about much today. However, current Aboriginal political movements in Australia are greatly influenced by the foundation built by Maynard and the AAPA. The organization gave a voice to Aboriginal people across Australia. They fought against the unfair treatment Aboriginal people faced under Australia's colonial rule. The organization was forgotten by the public soon after it stopped. This was due to ongoing police scrutiny and government pressure. But it has recently been discussed again. This is thanks to research by John Maynard into his grandfather, Fred Maynard, and the work of the AAPA.
