Aborigines Progressive Association

Explore powerful stories at the intersection of history, culture, and music—from Aboriginal cricket pioneers and war heroes to legendary albums by Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Gurrumul. This blog dives deep into First Nations resilience, iconic protest music, and untold truths that shaped Australia and the world. Engaging, thoughtful, and unapologetically real—where powerful voices from the past meet today's social conversation.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this page contains images and names of deceased persons.

Blak History Month: Jack Patten (1905–1957)

Jack Patten was an Aboriginal Australian activist, journalist, and soldier who became one of the leading figures in the early movement for Indigenous civil rights in Australia. A Yorta Yorta man, he helped bring national attention to discrimination against Aboriginal people and played a central role in several landmark campaigns that shaped later advocacy for equality. Patten was the first president of the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA), established in 1937 to campa

Groote Broadcasting

Jul 242 min read

NAIDOC Week is almost here — and this year is a big one. The 50th.

Most people know NAIDOC Week as a time of celebration. Flags flying, art, dancing, community events, kids learning culture at school. And it absolutely is all of that. But the story of how it began? That's something every Australian should know. Because NAIDOC didn't start as a party. It started as a protest. Back in 1938, on the 150th anniversary of British colonisation, Aboriginal leaders organised what they called the Day of Mourning. While the rest of the country celebrat

Groote Broadcasting

Jun 262 min read

The Stolen Generations: The effects did not end when the policies did.

In the quiet spaces between official records and family memory lies one of the most confronting truths of Australia’s modern history. Between 1910 and the 1970s, it is estimated that as many as one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families under formal government policies of assimilation. These children would later become known as the Stolen Generations — though the term itself barely captures the scale, duration, and hu

Groote Broadcasting

Feb 112 min read

On This Day, 4 February 1939: The Cummeragunja Walk-Off.

On 4 February 1939, a quiet but revolutionary act unfolded on the banks of the Murray River. About 200 Aboriginal men, women and children walked off Cummeragunja Aboriginal Station, near Moama in southern New South Wales, in what became one of the first mass Indigenous strikes in Australian history. This was no spontaneous protest. It was a carefully considered act of resistance against years of neglect, abuse and control imposed by the NSW Aborigines Protection Board, the go

Groote Broadcasting

Feb 42 min read

Electric Fields: Inma [2023]

When Electric Fields released Inma in 2023, it felt like a cultural and sonic lightning strike — a record that shimmered with futurism while remaining grounded in the oldest living cultures on Earth. The duo — Zaachariaha Fielding, a proud Anangu man from Mimili in the APY Lands, and producer Michael Ross, a classically trained electronic alchemist — have long defied easy categorisation. But with Inma, they distilled their vision perfectly: a radiant fusion of traditional son

Groote Broadcasting

Nov 8, 20252 min read

Gary Foley: The Firebrand of Aboriginal Activism.

Dr. Gary Foley (born 1950) is one of the most influential and outspoken figures in the history of Aboriginal activism in Australia — a man whose life’s work has challenged the nation to confront its deepest injustices. Born in Grafton, New South Wales, and a proud Gumbaynggirr man, Foley came of age during an era of immense social upheaval. His voice would soon become one of the defining ones in the modern Aboriginal rights movement. Foley moved to Sydney in the late 1960s, w

Groote Broadcasting

Oct 13, 20252 min read

Pearl Mary (Gambanyi) Gibbs: A Voice That Couldn’t Be Silenced.

Pearl Mary Gibbs (1901–1983), known affectionately as Gambanyi, was one of the most influential Aboriginal activists of the 20th century....

Groote Broadcasting

Sep 8, 20252 min read