Kwementyaye (Charles) Perkins: Indigenous Soccer Player and Australian Political Activist

Abstract

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the two main Indigenous groups in Australia, have fought protracted battles for physical and cultural survival in the wake of European colonisation. During the 1960s, drawing upon the example of the American civil rights movement, a small but disproportionately influential number of Aboriginal activists argued for voting rights, recognition by the Federal government, and – by the 1980s – land rights for traditional custodians. During the 40-year period from 1960 to 2000, the life and times of Indigenous icon Charles Perkins provide powerful insights into the challenge of negotiating or demanding Aboriginal rights in a dominant non-Indigenous society. As this paper shows, Perkins's engagement in soccer provided a pathway for him into wider society; it allowed him opportunities to meet with non-English-speaking migrants who also felt on the margins of mainstream culture. Although a professional athlete, Perkins also developed a passion for education, and, with assistance of non-Indigenous mentors, learned how to undertake political campaigns, ‘work’ the media, and intimidate opponents. Whereas he began political life as a reformer, he soon became a radical. Perkins was the consummate Aboriginal activist in a period when ‘blackfellas’ were not expected to speak up. This paper takes a biographical approach, pinpointing key experiences and influences in Perkins' life and his journey in sport, education and politics. There is an emphasis on how sport shaped his thinking about society, and, particularly in his later years, his assertion that sport should not simply reflect the status quo, it should be used by those on the margins to agitate for change. Thus, Perkins was deemed especially controversial; this is because the presumed sanctity of sport and its ‘separation’ from political influence was cherished in twentieth-century Australian culture. Perkins was not only an activist for Aboriginal causes, he had the temerity – most notably on occasions in which the international media spotlight was on Australia – to pursue them in the context of sport.

Keywords::

• aboriginal
• Australia
• indigenous
• soccer
• politics

Notes

^1. The convention within Aboriginal Australia is not to use the first name of a deceased Indigenous person wherever possible. There are profound complexities associated with this; as non-Indigenous authors, we have sought to respect the deceased by acknowledging at the outset the substitute name ascribed to Perkins upon his death – Kwementyaye.

^2. Perkins did not meet his father until the age of 33 years. His mother, Hetti Perkins, was the daughter of Harry Perkins, a white man from Broken Hill, and Nellie Errerreke, an Aboriginal woman from the Arrernte people of Central Australia. Hetti identified as an Eastern Arrernte Aboriginal woman. She had a total of 11 children from two relationships, the second of which produced Charles and Ernest. Their father was Martin Connelly, whose mother was a Kalkadoon Aboriginal and father Irish (Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography, 149; Read, “Perkins, Hetty (1895–1979)”; and The University of Sydney in Collaboration with the Koori Centre, “Dr Charles Perkins AO Program”).

^3.Read, “The Stolen Generations.”

^4.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 14.

^5. Ibid., 14–15.

^6. Perkins was accompanied to Adelaide by his brother Ernest. However, Perkins' autobiography A Bastard Like Me (1975) mentions Ernest only once – in a photograph on page 34. It is an intriguing omission. Peter Read wrote later that Charlie and ‘kid-brother’ Ernie had not bonded closely: ‘The institutionalised life of St Francis House had not allowed true brotherly feelings to develop’ (Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography, 198). Not an altogether adequate explanation.

^7.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me; Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography.

^8.Rowley, The Destruction of Aboriginal Society.

^9.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 30.

^10.Tatz, “Aborigines, Sport and Suicide.”

^11.Hokowhitu, “‘Physical Beings’.”

^12.Hoberman, Darwin's Athletes.

^13.Tatz, Obstacle Race.

^14.Bourdieu, In Other Words.

^15.Godwell, “Aboriginality and Rugby League in Australia”; Godwell, “Playing the Game”; and Adair and Stronach, “Natural-Born Athletes?”

^16.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 39.

^17. For a similar discussion by Perkins about Aboriginal youth and proficiency at sport, this time 23 years after his autobiography, see Hughes, “Charles Perkins.”

^18.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 40.

^19. Ibid., 40.

^20. Ibid., 41.

^21.Hughes, “Charles Perkins,” Interview 2.

^22. Ibid.

^23. Ibid.

^24. Ibid.

^25. Ibid.

^26. Ibid.

^27.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 40–1.

^28. Ibid., 41.

^29.Hughes, “Charles Perkins,” Interview 2.

^30.Maynard, The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe, 58.

^31.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 51.

^32.Maynard, The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe, 58.

^33.Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography.

^34. Ibid., 55–6.

^35.Maynard, The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe, 56.

^36.Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography, 57.

^37. Ibid., 57.

^38. Ibid., 58.

^39.Kerrin, “Charles Duguid and Aboriginal Assimilation in Adelaide, 1950–1960.”

^40. Ibid.

^41.Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography, 61.

^42.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 56–9.

^43. See note 2.

^44.Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography, 63.

^45.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 53.

^46. Ibid., 59.

^47. Ibid., 50.

^48.Hughes, “Charles Perkins,” Interview 3.

^49.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 64.

^50.Hughes, “Charles Perkins,” Interview 3.

^51.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 69.

^52. Ibid., 69–70.

^53. Ibid., 70.

^54.Hughes, “Charles Perkins,” Interview 3.

^55. Ibid.

^56.Farquharson, 2000.

^57.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me; Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography; and Hughes, “Charles Perkins,” Interviews 4–7.

^58.Arsenault, Freedom Riders.

^59.National Museum of Australia, “Freedom ride, 1965.”

^60.Curthoys, Freedom Ride.

^61. Ibid., 118.

^62. Ibid., 118–9.

^63.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, 68.

^64.Pollock, “Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs.”

^65.Perkins, A Bastard Like Me.

^66.Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography; The Charlie Perkins Trust, accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.perkinstrust.com.au/timeline.html

^67.Hughes, “Charles Perkins,” Interviews 6–7.

^68.Tatz, “Race, Politics and Sport.”

^69.Messenger, “Tackling Serious Issues in History.”

^70.Tatz, “Race, Politics and Sport.”

^71.Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography, 234.

^72. Ibid.

^73. Ibid., 234.

^74. Ibid., 34.

^75. Ibid., 234.

^76.The Bulletin, September 15, 1981, p. 24.

^77.Read, Charles Perkins: A Biography, 239.

^78. Ibid., 239–40.

^79. Ibid.

^80. Ibid.

^81. Ibid., 243.

^82. Ibid., 244.

^83.Elder, Pratt and Ellis, “Running Race Reconciliation.”

^84.Langton, Well I Heard It on the Radio and I Saw It on the Television.

^85.Mason, Sydney 2000.

^86. Ibid.

^87.Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, “Reconciliation: Australia's Challenge.”

^88.Elder, Pratt and Ellis, “Running Race Reconciliation.”

^89.Australian Broadcasting Commission, “Radio Interview.”

^90.Martin, “Public Assembly and Dissent in Sydney.”

^91.Reporter, “Ministers Up in Arms.”

^92. Ibid., 6.

^93. The Olympic Arrangements Act 2000No 1 (NSW) was enacted on May 1, 2000.

^94.Martin, “Public Assembly and Dissent in Sydney.”

^95.Willacy, “Senator Herron Repeats Claim.”

^96. “Aborigines Target Olympics,” BBC News, April 2, 2000, accessed September 27, 2013. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/698730.stm

^97.Farr and Ludlow, “Burn Baby Burn.”

^98.Elder, Pratt and Ellis, “Running Race Reconciliation”; Gardiner, “Running for Country.”

^99.White, “Cathy Freeman and Australia's Indigenous Heritage.”

^100. Hansard, “Proceedings of the Parliament of NSW,” November 1, 2000.

^101. Lefevre High School, Adelaide, accessed September 9, 2013 http://www.lefevrehs.sa.edu.au/index.php?page = 2107

^102. Perkins, “Video Interview, 5 May. Personal possession Eileen Perkins, Australian Biography VII (cameraroll2), cited in Maynard, 44.”

^103.Pilger, “Charles Perkins: A Tribute.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daryl Adair

Daryl Adair is Associate Professor of Sport Management at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has interests in sport, race, ethnicity and Indigeneity.

Megan Stronach

Megan Stronach is a Ph.D. graduate in Sport Management at the University of Technology, Sydney. She has interests in sport and Indigeneity in Australia.