The police were at war with us: Gordon Briscoe

“Coming down from the country to the city was a treacherous process,” explains Uncle Gordon Briscoe. Through Allan Duncan and Ken Brindle’s jobs program some Aboriginal people there decided to help others come to Sydney to get work. Unfortunately these people didn’t know how to get on in the city. The Big ‘E' - The Empress Hotel – was a place for all to meet up with family (and then go on to The Clifton Gardens, on Botany Rd), but the police targeted it, harassing clients especially on Friday nights.

Keywords: Identity; suburban living; daily life; racism; education; values; moving; Redfern; political activism; working; police; change, city; change, attitudes

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All the video recordings on this website were made at least a decade ago. Some are fifteen years old.

What the speakers say on camera was based on their own knowledge and researches at the time each video was made. Since then a great deal of information has come to hand which may make some of the information first recorded now outdated. Therefore please regard this website as a period piece presenting knowledge held and believed at the time of recording.