Personal stories
WARNING: Visitors should be aware that this website includes images and names of deceased people that may cause sadness or distress to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Discrimination, injustice and survival
The From Little Things Big Things Grow exhibition website includes interviews with 13 Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Listen to their personal video stories of discrimination, injustice and survival from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Beulah Pickwick on growing up and working on the New South Wales and Queensland border.
Listen to 'I would have liked to have been a waitress' (MPEG4 3.3mb) duration 1:29
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Listen to 'Just going to the movies' (MPEG4 3mb) duration 1:20
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Listen to 'Not welcome' (MPEG4 2mb) duration 0:56
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Darce Cassidy on growing up in Sydney and discrimination in country New South Wales.
Listen to 'Downstairs ... that's where they go' (MPEG4 2.5mb) duration 1:11
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Debai Baira, formerly Badu Island, Torres Strait, now resident in Sydney, on the limitations of moving around and working in the Torres Strait.
Professor Dennis Foley on discrimination and ways around it on Sydney's public transport system in the 1950s and 1960s.
Listen to 'Where is your grandmother?' (MPEG4 2.2mb)
duration 1:56
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Listen to 'Why can't they come inside?' (MPEG4 4.7mb) duration 2:06
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Dr Jan Richardson on injustices and triumphs in Western Australia in the 1960s and 1970s.
Listen to 'Café colour bar' (MPEG4 2.7 mb) duration 1:14
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Listen to 'So what? They all live like that' (MPEG4 6.3 mb) duration 2:53
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Listen to'Warning notice' (MPEG4 4mb) duration 1:49
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Listen to 'Who was he really?' (MPEG4 3mb) duration 1:24
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Joan Winch AM on discrimination in Western Australia in the 1940s and a lifelong lesson about rising above injustice.
Listen to 'Cannon fodder' (MPEG4 9.5mb) duration 4:13
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Listen to 'Off the streets by 6pm' (MPEG4 2.4mb) duration 1:05
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Listen to 'Twice as good, just to get to first base' (MPEG4 3.4mb) duration 1:32
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Dr John Moriarty AM on restrictive laws imposed on Aboriginal people in the 1950s and 1960s and the fight to overcome them.
Dog tag
Listen to 'Dog tag' (MPEG4 4.8mb) duration 2:11
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Lester Bostock on selective schooling and discimination in Sydney's hotels in the 1950s and 1960s.
Listen to 'All you learnt was the English history' audio (MPEG4 1.4mb) duration 0:37
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Listen to 'Resisting arrest' (MPEG4 2.8mb) duration 1:15
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Listen to 'Which pub? Which bar?' (MPEG4 2.3mb) duration 1.04
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Dr Linda Payi Ford on her mother's inspirational journey to save her baby daughter from authorities in the Northern Territory in the 1960s.
Listen to 'To save me for Country ... and the Country saved us' (MPEG4 6.1mb)
duration 2:51
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Maureen Logan on discrimination at the movies and in shops on the New South Wales and Queensland border in the 1950s.
Listen to 'Last in first out' (MPEG4 2.7mb) duration 1:15
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Listen to 'What about me?' (MPEG4 1.9mb) duration 0:52
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May O'Brien BEM about her love of education, and the racism she encountered at school in Western Australia.
Warning: This story from Aunty May O'Brien uses words that were intended to be offensive to Aboriginal people. It is not the intention of Aunty May or the National Museum of Australia to cause offence by repeating such words.
Listen to 'Hickory Dickory Dock' (MPEG4 6.6mb)
duration 3:04
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Michael Williams on the respect gained by his father after years of discrimination, and overcoming racism at school in country Queensland.
Listen to 'I'll fight him for you Dad!' (MPEG4 6.9mb) duration 3:09
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Listen to 'Mum's letter to my school' (MPEG4 4.6mb) duration 2:05
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Netta Tyson on discrimination while driving in Brisbane.
Audiovisual and image credits
Directed and filmed by: Jeremy Lucas
Research and interviews by: Suzanne Gibson and Troy Pickwick
Produced by: Jeremy Lucas and Suzanne Gibson
Photos: Jeremy Lucas
© National Museum of Australia
