Paving the way for the next generation

Dr. Charles Perkins' legacy is deeply etched into the history of our nation. As a trailblazer in Aboriginal Affairs and a passionate civil rights activist, Dr. Perkins, a proud Arrernte and Kalkadoon man, devoted his life to championing justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

As his daughter Rachel Perkins said during the 2023 Dr Charles Perkins Oration: “Our people's cause was the central feature of his life. And in reflecting on his life, he looked back and he said, Aboriginal Affairs was my way of life. It was everything. I was living and breathing it.”

Back in 1963 Dr Charles Perkins was a scholarship student embarking on his journey at the University of Sydney. He and Peter Garry Williams became the first known Indigenous students to study at the University.

It was while at the University in 1965 that Dr Perkins organised a student bus tour around New South Wales to draw attention to the state of Indigenous health, education and housing, and to try and encourage local action. This was called the Freedom Ride.

Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Indigenous Strategy and Services explains, “This was a time of great social change, and the Freedom Rides were a significant event because it drew all our attention to the poor living conditions faced by Aboriginal people and the racism that was rife in regional New South Wales towns.”

The Freedom Rides had a huge impact.

“The issues the Freedom Rides exposed aided the ‘Yes’ campaign for the 1967 referendum,” Professor Jackson Pulver says. “The referendum garnered an overwhelming 90% 'Yes' vote from the public, resulting in the removal of discriminatory references against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from the Australian Constitution. This was a significant victory, and it marked a turning point in the fight for civil rights and laid the foundation for ongoing efforts towards reconciliation and equality in Australia.”

Dr Perkins went on to make further significant contributions to social and civil change in Australia. As the first Aboriginal person to lead an Australian Government department, specifically the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Dr Perkins broke new ground and set a precedent for Indigenous representation in government. His three-year tenure as Commissioner of the Aboriginal Development Commission further established his reputation as a transformative leader devoted to enhancing Indigenous rights and welfare.

On his passing in October 2000, Dr Perkins left behind a legacy that is still felt to this day. It was not just the huge contributions he made to Australian society but the way he challenged the status quo that was among the reasons the Charles Perkins Centre, in the heart of the University of Sydney’s Camperdown campus, was named after him.

“He was chosen as our namesake because of the way he worked across disciplines and across sectors. He challenged prevailing ways of thinking and had impact in many different ways which ultimately changed the way Australia works,” Professor Stephen Simpson, Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre says.

The Charles Perkins Centre itself, as Professor Simpson highlights, is a “cathedral to innovation, intellectual exchange and high-quality research".

“A large, visionary project [such as this] had never been attempted anywhere else,” Professor Simpson says. “To dedicate an entire very large building to the vision of bringing together the university’s disciplines across its many different areas of expertise to tackle big, difficult societal challenges was an exciting and visionary idea, which proved to be tremendously attractive to philanthropists.”

Philanthropy has played a huge role in the centre’s development. “Much of what we've been able to do here could not have been funded by conventional competitive funding,” Professor Simpson says.  It has allowed for endowed professorships, equipment, support for research projects, students scholarships, fellowships, early career researchers support and funding across many other areas.

“The centre demonstrates the power of things differently, of high quality, and which ultimately challenges the way we conventionally think about complex, societally relevant problems. And that all comes back to Charles Perkins. Charles Perkins was a leader who exemplified those qualities,” Professor Simpson adds.

Dr Perkins may have started at the university on a student scholarship, but his life’s work has left a lasting legacy, not just at this institution but across our entire nation, especially for the next generation who will follow on the path he has set.

“I see his legacy continue to shine through in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the University,” Professor Jackson Pulver says. “Our students are our next generations of leaders, and I witness their readiness to make lasting and impactful change. Their work could not be done without respectfully looking back and remembering the Elders who have come before them, and the foundations these past activists have made to the future of our nation.”