Faith Bandler - Activist

Faith Bandler – Activist is an excerpt from the program Faith Bandler (26 mins), an episode of Australian Biography Series 2 (7×26 mins), produced in 1993.

Faith Bandler: Born in NSW in 1920, Faith Bandler is a descendant of South Sea Islanders. During the 1950s, she became involved in the peace movement, and in 1956 was instrumental in setting up the Australian Aboriginal Fellowship. In 1974, Faith decided to direct her energies to the 16,000 descendants of South Sea Islanders and, in 1975, made her first emotional journey to her father’s birthplace on Ambrym.

Australian Biography Series 2: The Australian Biography series profiles some of the most extraordinary Australians of our time. Many have had a major impact on the nation’s cultural, political and social life. All are remarkable and inspiring people who have reached a stage in their lives where they can look back and reflect. Through revealing in-depth interviews, they share their stories – of beginnings and challenges, landmarks and turning points. In so doing, they provide us with an invaluable archival record and a unique perspective on the roads we, as a country, have travelled.

Australian Biography Series 2 is a Film Australia National Interest Program.

Faith Bandler is a descendant of South Sea Islanders. At the age of 13, her father was kidnapped from the island of Ambrym, in what is known as Vanuatu, and brought to Australia to work as an unpaid labourer in the Queensland cane fields.

Faith Bandler is most well known for promoting the rights and interests of Indigenous Australians. This involvement as an activist first started when she co-founded the Aboriginal Australian Fellowship in 1956. This group led the campaign to abolish the NSW state government-controlled Aborigines Welfare Board, originally as the Aborigines Protection Board in 1883. Through the powers granted to this Board, Indigenous children were separated from their families and sent to missions, schools, farm stations and reservations. These children are some of those now known as the ‘Stolen Generations’.
With the exception of Tasmania, each state and territory had similar boards. While their powers to remove Indigenous children differed, the effects were very much the same. The NSW Board was eventually abolished in 1969 after several campaigns.

The removal of their children was just one of many discriminatory practices that impacted on Indigenous people. Other inequalities included unequal pay, no recognition of land rights, racial prejudice and unequal citizenship rights. Under the Australian Constitution, the federal government had no power to make laws relating to Indigenous people. This was left to the state and territory governments, each with their different laws, policies and prejudices.
From 1957, Bandler was instrumental in the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders’ campaign for a national referendum to change the Constitution. There were two main changes requested. First, that Indigenous people be included in future national censuses. Secondly, that the federal government be granted powers to legislate for Indigenous people. The vast majority of voters accepted these changes in 1967. The referendum was a significant step towards addressing some of the inequalities and discrimination experienced by Indigenous people.

In 1974, Faith decided to direct her energies to the plight of her own people, the 16,000 descendants of South Sea Islanders. She founded the National Commission for Australian South Sea Islanders and, in 1975, made her first emotional journey to her father’s birthplace on Ambrym.

1. After viewing the video about Faith Bandler – Activist, discuss in class then write answers to the following:
   1. Describe the purpose for the formation of the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship in New South Wales.
   2. Comment on the purpose of the New South Wales Aboriginal Welfare Board.
   3. Define the meanings of “petition” and “referendum”, and explain how these two words are important in understanding how the Aboriginal Welfare Board came to be removed in 1969.
2. In pairs carry out research then prepare an illustrated display poster featuring the political activism of Faith Bandler and Pearl Gibbs in campaigning for Indigenous rights up to the time of the closure of the Aboriginal Welfare Board.
3. In the video Faith Bandler refers to Jessie Street. Carry out research then write a biography in about 400–500 words of the life of Jessie Street, concentrating on the importance, relevance and long-term effects, or legacy, of her involvement as a non-Aboriginal in campaigning to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.
4. View Faith Bandler’s comments again about the way Indigenous people in New South Wales lived under the power and authority of the Aboriginal Welfare Board. In small groups, prepare a short drama scene that could be read or acted out to the class, or recorded as a dramatised radio scene for playback on your school’s intranet, depicting a situation involving two or more characters, where at least one is an Aboriginal and one is an officer empowered by the Aboriginal Welfare Board. (You may want to discuss the possibilities for this activity first, with the rest of the class.)

Marilyn Lake, Faith Bandler: Gentle Activist, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2003
Go to Faith Bandler
Go to Jessie Street
Go to 1967 Referendum
Go to Reconciliation Australia