The Day Of Mourning Persuasive Speech Analysis

📌Category: Human rights, Social Issues
📌Words: 598
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 21 February 2022

The methods used by Indigenous Rights Activists were aimed to benefit the Rights and Freedoms of Indigenous Australians. They engaged in peaceful protests and sought to make political appeals to achieve their aims and as a result, changes were made to the law to provide equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as a result of their successes. The Day of Mourning, The Freedom Rides and The 1967 Referendum were all significant events in their quest for equality.

The Day of Mourning was the first major Indigenous Australian Protest and marked the start of their campaign for rights and freedoms. It was the first national gathering of Indigenous people protesting against the prejudice and discrimination that was a daily part of their lives and marked the beginning of the Aboriginal political movement. The protesters boycotted celebratory events in an attempt to expand their movement and for their voices to be heard. “We refuse to be pushed into the background. We have decided to make ourselves heard,” stated William Ferguson. Overall, The Day of Morning Protests were a major success, achieving both media attention and an agreement by the Prime Minister to receive a deputation of delegates. The Day of Mourning events were what sparked the movement and gave the campaign momentum for future protests and events.

The Freedom Rides aimed to bring attention to the poor state of Aboriginal health, education and housing, particularly in the country towns of New South Wales. The series of protests were carried out as a way to spread awareness of the unright mistreatment of Indigenous Australian societies. In 1965, Protesters travelled throughout New South Wales by bus, protesting against racial discrimination and visiting Walgett, Gulargambone, Kempsey, Bowraville and Moree. The Freedom Rides drew public attention to the poor state of Aboriginal health, education and housing "The Freedom Ride was probably the greatest and most exciting event I have ever been involved in," stated Australian Aboriginal Activist Charles Peckins, further highlighting the importance and successes of the event. The Freedom Rides Event was critical to the campaign, it helped spread awareness of the mistreatment towards the Indigenous people of Australia and gain further popularity for the movement. Ultimately, The Freedom Rides Protests helped the campaign drastically and served as another reason to why The Referendum was able to be passed and succeed. 

The Referendum is widely referred to as the turning point in the treatment of The Indigenous Australian Community. The 1967 Referendum sought to change two sections of the Constitution in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with regards to how they were treated. At the time, Referendums were the only way to make changes to the law, and this particular Referendum was of critical importance towards the Campaign. The Referendum proposed to give the Indigenous people many rights and freedoms and would be a huge step towards equality for all Indigenous Australians. “When you write Yes in the lower square of your ballot paper you are holding out the hand of friendship and wiping out nearly 200 years of injustice and inhumanity," said New South Wales campaign director Faith Bandler, further showing the importance of The Referendum. Essentially, The Referendum was seen as the symbolic turning point, revealing a widespread desire for equality for the Indigenous Population of Australia and why The Referendum was arguably the greatest success throughout The movement.

Ultimately, The Indigenous Australian Rights Movement was tremendously successful through the methods they used, through peaceful protests and political changes, the movement achieved some major triumphs. The 1938 Day of Mourning, The Freedom Rides Event and The 1967 Referendum all had major impacts in achieving equality for Indigenous Australians. Overall, the Indigenous Australian Rights Movement encouraged everyone to re-evaluate their thoughts on The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to rethink their past actions against them. The Campaign was overall a significant turning point in Australian history and has reshaped the nation in a positive way.

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