biography
| name: |
Perkins, Charles (Nelson)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1936–2000)
|
| biography:
| Bureaucrat and activist, born in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, C Australia of Arunta and European descent. He studied at the University of Sydney, becoming the first Aborigine to graduate from a university. He was a leader of the Aboriginal movement in the 1960s, his ‘freedom rides’ bringing injustice to Aboriginal people to public attention. He was chairman of the Aboriginal Development Commission (1981–4) and permanent head of the department of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra (1984–9). He had been a member of the Australia Council Aboriginal Arts Committee since 1990. |
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