Grafton

1965

Grafton

We were up early; we had to be out of the hall by nine that morning. The morning was spent peacefully writing things. Today was quite a travesty everything we did was recorded; there were plenty of photos taken. Mr Miles had prepared a tape for us he was from the ABC. It was about the conditions of being an Aboriginal, the little rights we have and the poor living conditions. He had told us that the tape had been made for us two years ago but had never been used, only now he felt that it could make a difference. Apparently it was untimely for the ABC. He then started criticizing our ways of fighting for freedom. We tried to talk to him and tell him our point of view. He didn’t see that the problem was much more greater then the simple question of questioning. He then told us to dress more appropriately; formal is the word he used, he said we weren’t on a holiday and to treat this journey almost like a business trip. Altogether he was a very interesting man but not exactly understanding about our situation. After this we had an intense discussion about the SAFA’s future plans.  We overruled the motion of raising the scholarships and decided that not many more decisions could be made.