Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement is established

The Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement is established at a conference in Adelaide. Of the 25 people attending, only three are Aboriginal: Bert Groves from NSW, Doug Nicholls from Victoria and Jeff Barnes from SA. Founding member of FCAA, Bert Groves, opposes the policy of assimilation, which he likens to extermination. He argues assimilation implies the disappearance of Aboriginal people as a separate cultural group and their physical absorption into European Australia. Groves tells the conference that the word “integration” better defines the aims of FCAA. (Koori History)