Gary Foley, NACCHO

1. Community-Controlled Aboriginal Health Services
A Historical Reflection
By Dr. Gary Foley
Professor of History, Victoria University

2. Today I would like to talk about History

3. History is important

4. “It’s important to understand what went before,
because if you’ve got no history, There’s no present.
And if you’ve got no present, there’s no future...”
Dr. Bruce B. McGuinness
VAHS Chair
25th Anniversary celebrations 1998

5. Today we reflect on the first 20 years of history of
Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services
because it is those years that shaped these organisations
and their ideals and philosophy...

6. The challenges of today and tomorrow have been
created in our past and our history...

7. So it is important and timely to remember and to
celebrate the ideals and philosophy that were
part of the community spirit that created NAIHO
and NACCHO

8. It is important to remember that Community
Controlled Health Services were a
product of the Black Power era...

9. So what was the Black Power era...
And how did Redfern AMS and VAHS evolve
from the ideals and philosophy of the era?

10. Black Power Movement Influences and inspirations

11. Malcolm X

12. Black Power became part of the
political language in Australia in 1969

13. In 1969 Bruce McGuinness and Bob Maza
were officials at the
Aborigines Advancement League in Northcote

14. McGuinness and Maza invite a Caribbean academic
Prof. Roosevelt Brown to address a meeting at
Aborigines Advancement League in Northcote

15. Bob Maza Patsy Kruger Roosevelt Brown

16. Roosevelt Brown holds a press conference for Australian media

17. Roosevelt Brown is interviewed by Australian media
And creates a sensation when he talks about “Black Power”

18. Bruce McGuinness asserts that the term Black Power
means “Black Control of Black Affairs”
Or in other words….
Aboriginal Community Control of Aboriginal Organisations

19. Bruce McGuinness is vilified in the media

20. Meanwhile in Sydney and Brisbane....

21. Meanwhile in Sydney and Brisbane....
Other young activists are inspired by
the example set by McGuinness and Maza.

22. In Sydney in Redfern a Black Power group is led by Paul Coe...

24. The Australian Black Power Movement stood for:-
Land Rights
Saw land as an economic base
Self-Determination
Aboriginal control of Aboriginal Affairs
Economic Independence
Aboriginal sovereignty

25. The Black Power Movement established the first -
Aboriginal Community-controlled Legal Aid Centres
Aboriginal Community-controlled Health Clinics
Aboriginal Housing collectives
Black Theatre

26. First Aboriginal Legal Service Redfern 1971

27. First Aboriginal Medical Service Redfern 1971

28. Redfern Aboriginal Breakfast Program evolved into Murawina Women and Children’s Centre

29. Redfern 1972
Developing Community-controlled, self-help programmes

30. National Black Theatre

31. In 1970 Bob Maza had visited the Black Theatre in Harlem, New York.
In 1972 he created the National Black Theatre company in Redfern, Sydney.

32. In 1970 Bob Maza had visited the Black Theatre in Harlem, New York.
In 1972 he created the National Black Theatre company in Redfern, Sydney.

33. And another clip from “Basically Black”

35. The principle of ‘Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs‘
was the underlying idea of Black Power as it was
developing in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane...

36. Meanwhile in Melbourne...

37. In May 1973 poor health conditions in the Aboriginal community in Gippsland
drew public attention to the failure of the mainstream health care system to
provide effective health care to the Aboriginal community.
This led to a group of people in the Fitzroy Aboriginal community to decide
That they should seek to establish a health centre operated and controlled
Aboriginal people themselves.

38. Aunty Edna and Aunty Cissy Hyllus Marus Geraldine Briggs
In June 1973 among the group who were involved in the establishment the VAHS were ...
Jim Berg
Reg Blow Alma Thorpe

39. The dominant political voice in Fitzroy at that time was
Bruce McGuinness

40. The dominant political voice in Fitzroy at that time was
Bruce McGuinness
1969 - 1971 Director, Aborigines Advancement League
1971 – 1973, Student, Monash University
1973 – 1975, Chairperson, National Aboriginal Consultative Committee (NACC)
197 5 -1978, Co-ordinator, Swinburne Community Organisation Course
1976 - Chairperson, national Aboriginal & Islander Health Organisation (NAIHO)

41. The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service officially opened on the 18th of August 1973
At 229 Gertrude Street Fitzroy

42. The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service officially opened on the 18th of August 1973
229 Gertrude Street Fitzroy
“[It was] a double-fronted building in Gertrude
Street, 229. It had previously been a Balkan
restaurant... They got it through two brothers in
Carlton who had a certain empathy, so the rent
was not quite market rent.”
- Dr. Bill Roberts

43. In 1973 the Federal Government refused to Provide financial assistance for
newly created Aboriginal community-controlled health services.
So for the first six months or so the VAHS was run by staff on a voluntary basis.
This was an expression of the tremendous dedication of Aboriginal
community activists of that era.
It was also an example of the philosophy of the Black Power inspired
ideas of self-help, and self-determination.

44. In 1973 the Federal Government bureaucracy still clung onto
their ideas and policy of assimilation.
State and Federal governments were determined that Aboriginal
people should access mainstream health programs in line with the
policy of assimilation.
The creation of Aboriginal community-controlled health services
such as Redfern and Fitzroy were an explicit rejection of government
attempts at imposing assimilation on our community.

45. By the beginning of 1974 the newly formed VAHS employed their first full-time staff
They were....
Alma Thorpe, Administrator
Dr. Janet Bacon, Doctor
Debra Deakon, Receptionist
Claire Garisu, Nurse
Gene Blow, Field Officer
Edna Brown, Cleaner/Social Worker

46. As part of the rejection of externally imposed ideas, the VAHS developed
its own definition of health for our community.
The VAHS also played a key role in defining the new type of community-
controlled organisations that had emerged out of the Black Power movement.
The VAHS also radically changed the perception of roles in a health care
delivery system.

47. Definition of Health
“Health does not simply mean the physical well-being of
an individual but refers to the social, emotional and
cultural well-being of the whole community. For Aboriginal
people, this is seen in terms of the whole of life view,
incorporating the cyclical concept of life-death-life and the
relationship to the land.
Health care services should strive to achieve the state
where every individual is able to achieve their potential as
human beings and thus bring about the total well-being of
their community”

48. Community Control
The VAHS believed that the only REAL experts about the
situation of Aboriginal people in any given community were
the people who live in that community.
As a result, any programmes that existed in that community
should be under the control of properly elected people from
that community.
The VAHS along with Redfern AMS pioneered the idea of
community-controlled Aboriginal organisations in Australia.

49. The Role of Aboriginal Health Workers
Consistent with the VAHS belief and policy on “Community
– control, we also believed that the most important people
involved in health-care delivery to Aboriginal people
should be the Aboriginal Health Workers.
“Even though they haven’t got the skills in the so-called white academic
sense, they are Aboriginal people who can understand, sympathise and
identify with their own people and are prepared to work amongst their own
kind” - Paul Coe 1972

50. In September 1974 VAHS established the Victorian Aboriginal Dental
Service, the first community controlled facility of its kind in Australia.

51. Dr. Bill Roberts

52. VAHS and NAIHO promoted the idea that
paramedic Koori Health Workers were the key
people in Aboriginal health. As the ‘middle-
person’ between the community and the white
medico, and equipped with specific paramedical
skills, the Koori Health Worker was as important
a component in an effective health care delivery
system as the white doctor.

53. Koori Kollij opened in 1982

54. Koori Kollij opened in 1982
Health Worker Education Program

55. Koori Kollij opened in 1982
Health Worker Education Program

56. Other Significant VAHS initiatives.....
Under 5’s program
Koori Radio on 3ZZZ
Fitzroy Stars Youth Club and Gymnasium
Nindebya Workshop
Koori Information Centre
YAPPERA

57. VAHS’ most famous visitor - 1978

58. VAHS most famous visitor - 1978

59. VAHS most famous visitor - 1978

60. New Building 136 Gertrude Street

61. New Building 136 Gertrude Street
Official Opening 1979

62. Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam at Official Opening
Of VAHS Nicholson Street Premises 1993

66. 1. The basic value of the VAHS –
Caring for the Community

67. 2. The basic political stance of the VAHS –
“Self-Determination”
or
Aboriginal Control of Aboriginal Affairs
or
“WE are the experts”

68. 3. The basic philosophy of the VAHS –
Educate yourself
then
Educate the People

69. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Shirley Smith (Redfern AMS)

70. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Prof Fred H0llows (Redfern AMS)

71. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Gordon Briscoe (Redfern AMS)

72. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Aunty Edna Brown VAHS

73. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Alma Thorpe VAHS

74. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Bruce McGuinness VAHS

75. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Naomi Mayers and Gary Foley Redfern AMS

76. Important People in the early
Development of Community-Controlled
Aboriginal Health Services
Dr Bill Roberts VAHS and NAIHO

77. A final message –

78. Don’t Smoke...

80. End
For further information
Visit
The Koori History Websites via
www.kooriweb.org
www.goorweb.org
All material is from the Foley Collection