Celebrating 100 Indigenous UNSW Law Graduates 100-Indigenous-Law-Graduates-Event_Booklet_V13_FIN | Page 36

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The people of La Perouse were among those who campaigned for
Aboriginal civil rights in the 1930s, a period in which the Australian
government sought to ‘assimilate’ Aboriginal people. This civil
rights era culminated in the breakthrough gains of the 1960s and
1970s. By then, UNSW had been established (fig. 7) and played
a national role in the next phase of government law and policy
making, self-determination. Aboriginal self-determination saw
Aboriginal people enrolling to study at UNSW (fig. 8), helping to
set up the first Aboriginal Legal Service at Redfern, and later the
Indigenous Law Centre.
Fig.9 Nura Gili, UNSW
Over the past forty-five years the University has been home to a
growing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students,
researchers and staff, and now houses the Nura Gili Indigenous
Programs Unit (fig.9). All are carrying on a long, local tradition
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teaching, learning and
innovation into the future.
Fig.8 Dawn Magazine July 1971 p12