Aboriginal Australian Fellowship
The Aboriginal Australian Fellowship (AAF) was founded in 1956 by Pearl Gibbs and Faith Bandler . The AAF was a political organization that brought together Aborigines and non-Aborigines for social and political rights.
Gibbs realized that if the interests of the Aborigines were to be enforced on the Aboriginal Welfare Board of New South Wales , the help and support of the white population was required. This organization included members of the Communist Party of Australia , artists, writers, members of the Jewish communities and the Christian churches. The AAF first attracted attention on April 29, 1957, when it held a meeting in Sydney Town Hall on April 29, 1957 and passed a protest note demanding that the government be held directly responsible for Aboriginal affairs.
The AAF campaigned against the rigid alcohol ban, against racial discrimination in public institutions such as schools, swimming pools and movie theaters in New South Wales, and worked to improve Aboriginal education.
Pearl Gibbs helped the AAF develop relationships with the New South Wales unions and Bert Groves was the AAF's first president. The AAF was represented when the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement was founded in Adelaide in 1958 , and it disbanded in 1969 when the Aborigines set up their own organizations.