Moree Baths and Swimming Pool

Australian Heritage Database Places for Decision Class : Indigenous Identification List: National Heritage List Name of Place: Moree Baths and Swimming Pool Other Names: Moree Spa Baths Complex, Moree Hot Mineral Baths, Moree Artesian Pool Place ID: 106098 File No: 1/02/192/0006 Nomination Date: 02/02/2009 Principal Group: Aboriginal Occupation Site Status Legal Status: 02/02/2009 - Nominated place Admin Status: 07/12/2012 - Assessment by AHC completed Assessment Recommendation: Other Assessments: : Location Nearest Town: Moree Distance from town (km): Direction from town: Area (ha): .5 Address: Anne St, Moree, NSW, 2400 LGA: Moree Plains Shire NSW Location/Boundaries: About .5ha, corner of Anne Street and Warialda Street, Moree, comprising all that part of Lot 100 DP1163663 to the north of MGA northing Zone 55 6736080mN. Assessor's Summary of Significance: In 1965 student protest actions at the Moree baths highlighted the racial discrimination and segregation experienced by Aboriginal people in Australian rural towns and the outback and forced the broader Australia community to look at the way it treated its Indigenous population. The protest was an important contributor to the climate of opinion which resulted in a yes vote in the 1967 referendum to change the Australian Constitution regarding the status of Aboriginal Australians. That change provided a legal basis for subsequent Commonwealth involvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and an increased recognition at local, state, and national levels of the importance of Indigenous rights in Australia. The events that occurred at the Moree baths in 1965 also have a special association with the life and works of the Aboriginal activist Dr Charles Nelson Perrurle Perkins AO. Moree was the place where the public first saw him confront people with awkward truths about the treatment of Aborigines. This combined with other events that occurred in the wider Freedom ride, brought Charles Perkins to public prominence as a leading Aboriginal activist and established him as an iconic figure for both young and older Aborigines alike. In addition it clearly demonstrated his commitment to achieving equity for Aboriginal people in Australia, which became a lifelong cause. Draft Values: Criterion Values Rating A Events, The Moree baths has outstanding national heritage value under AT Processes criterion (a) as the place where student protests in 1965 highlighted the legalised segregation and racism experienced by Aboriginal people in outback Australia. It brought the racial discrimination and segregation experienced by the Aboriginal population in Australian country and rural towns to the attention and consciousness of the white Australian population. It forced Australia to look at the way it treated its Indigenous population and showed that racial segregation continued in many towns. The protest was an important contributor to the climate of opinion which produced a yes vote in the 1967 referendum to change the Australian Constitution. From that change came a legal basis for subsequent Commonwealth involvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and an increased recognition at local, state, and national levels of the importance of Indigenous rights in Australia. H Significant The Moree baths has outstanding heritage value to the nation under AT people criterion (h) as the place that has a special association with the life and works of the Aboriginal activist Dr Charles Nelson Perrurle Perkins AO. The events at the Moree baths in 1965 brought him into public prominence as a leading Aboriginal activist and it was here that his tactic of confronting people with awkward truths about their treatment of Aborigines first emerged in a public context. This pattern was repeated throughout his life even when it resulted in costs to him personally. The events that occurred in Moree, and the wider Freedom ride, established Charles Perkins as an iconic figure for both young and older Aborigines alike. In addition it clearly demonstrated his commitment to achieving equity for Aboriginal people in Australia, something that became a lifelong cause. Historic Themes: Nominator's Summary of Significance: Until the early 1970s, segregation of town amenities, or to be precise, the disallowance of Aboriginal people from commercial and social gathering places, was practised officially through the NSW Shire by laws, and equally importantly, unofficially by employees like bartenders and cafe-owners. Aborigines anywhere in rural Australia, for example, would rarely enter a café because they knew that they would probably be served last, if at all: Even if no by-law actually forbade entry, it was known that there would be only grief for any Aborigine trying to enter, or sitting down and ordering a meal. The desegregation of town amenities in NSW and other states was undertaken during the 1960s. The Freedom Ride in NSW, led by the Eastern Arrernte man Charles Perkins, was the best known of these crucial campaigns attempting to desegregate amenities like picture shows, hairdressing salons and swimming pools, by means of peaceful protest. The Moree Baths picket was the best known and most photographed event of the 1965 Freedom Ride, and proved to be successful as the ban against Aboriginal children in the pool after three pm was lifted some months after the picket. Charles himself is remembered affectionately and with respect in Moree (which is more than can be said by the white towns folk, perhaps, of Walgett). I believe that a memorial of the event,' such as a plaque within the pool enclosure, would be welcomed by the Shire as well as by the town's Indigenous people: So a nomination, possibly recognised by a plaque in the pool, would commemorate the outstanding event or the 1960s desegregation movement and in particular, the key moment in the 1965 Freedom Ride. Description: The Moree Hot Artesian Pool Complex (Moree baths) is owned and managed by the Moree Plains Shire Council. The Baths are located on Lot 20 bounded by Anne St, Gosport St and Warialda St Moree, NSW, 2400. The original hot pool opened in 1895 when the first bore that tapped into the Great Artesian Basin was completed. The bore delivered mineral waters, heated naturally to about 41 degrees Celsius. A small basin was originally excavated and gravelled. This was later upgraded with a small wooden lined basin for bathing. The original bore ceased to flow in 1957, and the hot mineral waters are now pumped to the baths. Currently the large municipal complex comprises three tiled pools. Analysis: Criterion (a): The place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in the course, or pattern, of Australia’s cultural history; Many Australians were shocked by the media coverage of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa and the violence against civil rights protestors in the southern parts of the United States. On 6 May 1964, University of Sydney students protested outside the United States consulate in support of the Civil Rights Bill, which the United States Congress was then debating. When police began arresting protestors, fellow students tried to free them. The initial scuffle turned into what was described by one newspaper as an all-in brawl with the inevitable media publicity (Curthoys 2002: 6-7). The American press responded by suggesting that the demonstrators were hypocritical because they focused on fashionable American civil rights issues but did not consider the treatment of Australia's Indigenous minority. The students responded to these criticisms by establishing the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) which drew members from the full spectrum of university clubs (Ford 1965: 4; Spigelman 1965: 116-117; Curthoys 2002: 8-10). Inspired by the Freedom Rides in America, the SAFA decided to use a bus to visit rural towns in New South Wales and southern Queensland to highlight the plight of Aborigines in rural Australia to the wider Australian public through the media, and to undertake a social survey. The Freedom Ride bus set off from the University of Sydney on the evening of 12 February 1965 with 29 students on board. The Freedom Riders found little to protest about until they reached Walgett. The RSL Club refused to admit Aboriginal people, including ex-servicemen, as members. The students picketed the RSL, which provoked heated discussion and anger in the local white community. After the demonstration, the Anglican minister and three churchwardens gave the students two hours to vacate the church hall in which they were staying. A truck attempted to run the bus off the road, succeeding on the third attempt. Fortunately, no one was injured and the students returned to town and reported the incident to the police (Read 1988: 47-48; Curthoys 2002: 100-105). Bruce Maxwell, a cadet reporter, for the Sydney Morning Herald, was present, and reported the survey, the protests, and most importantly of all the truck running the bus off the road. In showing the extent of local anger at the students’ protests, the truck driver’s actions created new media interest in the Freedom Ride (Curthoys 2002: 110-111; Clark 2008: 171). The next stop on the Freedom Riders' itinerary was Moree, where a council ordinance prohibited Aborigines from using a range of council facilities including the swimming pool. This 1955 ordinance read as follows (Spigelman 1965:49): Patronage of baths and Memorial Hall: - That no person being a full blooded or half cast aboriginal of Australia, or being a person apparently having admixture of Aboriginal blood, shall use, occupy or be present in or upon, or be allowed or be permitted or invited to use, occupy or be present upon, the premises of the council known as Memorial Hall or in or upon any of the buildings or places ancillary there to, including the supper room, Kitchen, Servery, Toilets and Passages AND THAT no such person as aforesaid shall use, occupy or be present in or be allowed or permitted to use or occupy or be present in or upon the premises of the council known as the Moree Baths or in or upon any of the buildings or places therewith.

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