A Condensed History of the Block in Redfern
The Block has historically been the subject of large protests, starting in the early 1970s, when landlords in the area conducted a campaign of evicting all Aboriginal residents. A group of campaigners, led by Bob and Kaye Bellear , successfully lobbied the Whitlam government for a grant which allowed the AHC to commence purchasing houses in 1972. The area was significant as an affordable source of low-cost housing for disadvantaged Aboriginal people.

Material from the Gary Foley Collection
Note: This page is still under construction

Early History
"How the Aboriginal Housing Project was Born" by the late Bob Bellear - Source: Black Housing Book, ed. Robert Bellear, Amber Press, 1976
"How the Aboriginal Housing Project was Born" by Kaye Bellear - Source: Redfern Oral History Website
"How the Aboriginal Housing Project was Born" by the late Colin James - Source: Redfern Oral History Website
"How the Aboriginal Housing Project was Born" by the late Father Ted Kennedy - Source: Redfern Oral History Website
"BL's Back Aborigine Housing Scheme" - Source: BLF Newsletter 1973
Media reports 1973 - 2015
"Breakfast at 6 to Unite the Blacks" - Sydney Morning Herald 12th March 1973
"Building Union Ban Lifted" - Daily Mirror 21st March 1973
"Whites Attack on Aboriginals" - Daily Telegraph - 22nd March 1973
"Aboriginal Go Alone" - Sydney Daily Mirror 23rd March 1973
"Sasha, 2 a victim of Redfern's race hatred" - Sydney Sun 23rd March 1973
"Housing at Redfern: Aborigines Plans Outlined" - Sydney Morning Herald 26th March 1973
"Housing Plan for Aborigines" - Melbourne Sun 26th March 1973
"The Unrest of Black Redfern" - Nation Review 30th March 1973
"A Champion's Fists keep and Uneasy Peace" - Sunday Mirror 8th April 1973
"Black Ban on Aid" - National Times 9th April 1973
"City Aborigines in Fear of Police" - Sydney Morning Herald 14th April 1973
"Joy and Anger at Redfern Plan" - Daily News 16th April 1973
"Federal Backing For Aboriginal Co-op" - Adelaide Advertiser 16th April 1973
"Half Million Dollars as a Spur for Aborigines" - Brisbane Telegraph 16th April 1973
"$530,000 Grant for Aboriginal Houses" - Melbourne Sun 16th April 1973
"Homes Gift For Blacks" - Melbourne Age 16th April 1973
"Aboriginals Ask Council For Support" - Daily Telegraph 17th April 1973
Editorial "Redfern's Aborigines" - Sydney Morning Herald 17th April 1973
"Home for an Aboriginal Community" - Sydney Morning Herald 17th April 1973
"Work Started on Aborigines Home Project" - Sydney Morning Herald 17th April 1973
"A Self-Help Pace-Setter" - West Australain 30th April 1973
"Row in ALP Over Housing Aid Project" - Daily Mirror 3rd May 1973
"Aboriginal Community Scheme Can Win: Bonner" - Australian 8th May 1973
"Housing Project launches Labor's first major racialist challenge" - Sydney Morning Herald - 10th may 1973
"A Black Outlook" - Sydney Morning Herald - 11th may 1973
"Heartland of Underprivilege" - Melbourne Age 6th June 1973
"Co-operate Plea" - Sydney Morning Herald 21st June 1973
"It's not the Colour, it's the Lifestyle" - Melbourne Herald 24th June 1973
"Blacks are hoping for communes in more state capitals" - Australian 2nd October 1973
"Their own village in the heart of the city" - Melbourne Herald 25th June 1974
"Mum Shirl's World is Black Redfern" - Age June 1974
"Sinister or simply petty: Redfern's problems divide opinion" - Sydney Morning Herald 23rd January 1997
"Demolition of derelict homes to kick off Redfern clean-up" - Sydney Morning Herald 25th January 1997
"Redfern makes the transition" - Sydney Morning Herald 22nd February 1997
"Redfern crime slashed, New York style" - Sydney Morning Herald 17th April 1997
"Red hot - The changing face of Redfern " - Daily Telegraph 6th December 2003
"Aborigines riot in anger at boy's death" - Age 16th February 2004
Pics of Redfern "Riot" - 16th February 2004
"Redfern riots a 'tragedy for all': Mick Mundine" - ABC Radio - The World Today 16th February 2004
"NSW Govt boosts resources for Redfern police" - ABC Radio PM 16th July 2004
"Aborigines' Protest in Sydney Leaves 40 Injured" - New York Times 17th February 2004
"Battle-scarred Redfern on a knife edge" - Age 17th February 2004
"Three inquiries into boy's death" - Australian 17th February 2004
"Latham Slams Parents Over Riot" - Australian 19th February 2004
"TJ's life played out in the 'dead zone'" - Weekend Australian 21st february 2004
"Aunty Leaves the Block" - Sydney Morning Herald 19th March 2004
"Coroner's inquest into death of TJ Hickey" - ABC Radio AM 5th July 2004
"Conflicting police reports emerge at Hickey inquest" - ABC-TV 7.30 Report 15th July 2004
"Redfern reforms rushed through" - Herald Sun17th July 2004
"Block's new life of hope - $27m plan for `cultural housing' in Redfern" - Daily telegraph 11th October 2004
"Major plan to redevelop Redfern" - Age 29th November 2004
"Revealed: how Redfern will be reborn" - Sydney Morning Herald 29th November 2004
"Maximising market value the main game" - Sydney Morning Herald 29th November 2004
"Moore moves to block Redfern's revamp" - Daily Telegraph 30th November 2004
"Redfern Coalition to resist forcible acquisition of The Block" - ABC Radio AM 20th December 2004
"Selling out the people of Redfern" - Australian 12th May 2005
"Priest who brought hope into Redfern" - Daily Telegraph 25th May 2005
"Redfern plan threatens cultural identity, critics say" - Sydney Morning Herald 15th April 2006
"Big plans for Redfern" - Sydney Morning Herald 17th April 2007
"Redfern's black history goes back generations" - Sydney Morning Herald 10th July 2009
"Friday deadline on the Block, but last residents are refusing to go" - Sydney Morning Herald 15th November 2010
"Redfern's 'The Block' landmark is done" - Sunday Telegraph 23rd October 2011
Block politics in Redfern - Sydney Morning Herald 26th April 2014
Hipsters take over Aboriginal Redfern - Sydney Morning Herald 2nd May 2014
Redfern Block Tent Embassy established - Red Flag 31st May 2014
Redfern stoush intensifies over block development project - ABC Radio AM 6th June 2014
"Protesters fear Indigenous residents will never again live on the historic site" - ABC News 11th June 2014
"Redfern grannies vow to stay on the Block" - Sydney Morning Herald 14th June 2014
"The Long Haul" - Honi Soit 6th July 2014
"Protesters scale buildings to stop bulldozing of The Block" - Sydney Morning Herald 7th July 2014
"The AHC and the battle for Redfern's Block" - The Saturday Paper 12th July 2014
Redfern apartment marketer spruiks ‘Aboriginal exit’ - Australian 10th December 2014
'Vegie gardens keep Redfern Tent Embassy supporters fed' - The Stringer 14th December 2014
"Supporters Flock To Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy" - by Chris Graham New Matilda 22nd December 2014
"Redfern tent embassy discusses Aboriginal resistance" - Green Left Weekly January 31, 2015
" Redfern First Nations Embassy slapped with 48 hour eviction notices " - N.U.G. 20th February 2015
Academic Papers - some good, some questionable Note: These are PDF files - you need Adobe Reader to open them
"Aboriginal Youth Subcultures in Redfern" - by George Morgan - University of Western Sydney
"Documenting Redfern: representing home and Aboriginality on the Block" - by Ceridwen Spark - Monash University
"Mapping Australian Postcolonial Landscapes" - by Mark Harris in Law Text Culture Vol 7 2003
"Urban Indigenous Housing Issues in Redfern" - by Jacqui Wilkinson - University of NSW
"Riots, Policing and Social Disadvantage" - by Don Weatherburn NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
"A Critical Media Analysis of the Redfern Riot" - by Andy Gargett - University of Melbourne
" The Redfern All Blacks Rugby League Club in the Early 1960s" - by Jackie Hartley in Labour History, No. 83 (Nov., 2002), pp. 149-171
"Struggles over Aboriginal Housing, Redfern, 1970-73" - by Kay Anderson in Settlement: A history of Australian Indigenous housing
"The Two Realities on the Block" - Elizabeth Rice in collaboration with the Aboriginal Housing Company

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