During the proceedings, Ferguson read out correspondence sent to the APA from Aboriginal people throughout New South Wales. These letters were scathing in their condemnation of the poor treatment of Aboriginal people by the Aborigines Protection Board.

Pastor Frank Roberts, a Bundjalung man from Tuncester, wrote:

 

In January 1936 around 400 Torres strait islander Maritimes workers then went on strike. They were protesting about the harsh and unfair labour conditions they face, the workers also sought the right to control their wages.

 

Their strike went on for over four months and forced the government to agree with their conditions.

 The AAL was able to persuade religious denominations to make the Sunday before Australia day as aboriginal Sunday, it was to serve a reminder of the in just act that they did.

 

they wore black dress as a  symbolic sign of mourning.

100 people attended.

 

four white people were allowed two policemen as well as Russell Clark from Man magazine and P R Stephensen.

The first to speak was Jack Patten in summery he spoke about how the white people were have a great day of celebration as they were all having a day of morning.  He also talked about how they were being treated as second class citizens and how the white man were refusing to see their history. 

William Ferguson was the next speaker and he said in a short summery was about how the aborigines were just siting around and hoping the white man stop treating them as second rate. 

Dough Nichols spoke on behalf of the Aboriginal people of Victoria and he said how the white man are not seeing how the aborigines are being treated horrible 

Mr. Connelly, from the south coast of New South Wales talked about how the white man took there land and they have not done enough to stop it 

Pearl Gibbs was the last speaker of the day and he spoke of how the conditions on all the Aboriginal stations were horrible. 

·     The launchers of the aborigine’s progressive association were William Ferguson and Jack Patten

·     To conduct the betterment for the aborigine’s

·     To secure full citizen rights for indigenous people, and revoke the restriction legislation concerning them. 

·     In early 1937 Ferguson made a public made a public call for a parliamentary select committee enquiry into the administration of NSW protection board for the aboriginals.

·     The inquiry commenced in November, of that year.

·     Ferguson showed before that as a ‘representative of the aborigines of NSW’.

·     Ferguson read out correspondence sent to the APA

·     These letters of the condemnation of poor treatment to aboriginals by their protection board.

·     Pastor Frank Roberts, a Bundjalung man from Tuncester wrote on one of the letters: "It is terrible. Words cannot express what is scandalous treatment by the Destruction Board…The Aborigines Protection Board made conditions so hard that I was forced to leave the settlement, and through persecution of the board…I am without a home".

 

 

The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association believed that they can improve the conditions of Aboriginal people and to stop the loss of too many Aboriginal lands in New South Wales. It was the first organisation to call Aboriginal people to control organisation and direction of their rules and affairs. Maynard and the AAPA criticised and believed that the Aboriginal Protection Board was not a great policy.

·     On November 12 1937, William Cooper called a meeting of leading Aboriginal activists.

·     The event was published in the front page of Melbourne newspaper ‘The Argus’.

·     In early January 1938, Jack Patten and William Ferguson published the pamphlet entitled ‘Aborigines Claim Citizens Rights’.

·     The pamphlet was described as a manifesto for Aboriginal people and described conditions for Aboriginal people in Australia from their own perspective.

·     The pamphlet was published with the assistance of P R Stephenson, also published his own magazine ‘The Publicists’ and would later publish ‘The Australian Abo Call’.