Faith Bandler: The Gentle Activist

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 25.06.2006 (Women’s Feature Service): Faith Bandler (born 1918) showed the many qualities that blossomed in her later life. The abuse and exclusion she experienced as an indigenous schoolgirl in white Australia left a lasting impression on her, but she still exudes a serenity that belies her extraordinary energy for the cause of justice for indigenous peoples, for women, and for the peace movement.

Faith is best known for her leading role in the long campaign to win full citizenship rights for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia. She has spent a lifetime campaigning for racial equality and women’s rights. Her work for abolition of war and elimination of poverty has been of national and international significance – the Order of Australia in 1984; an honorary doctorate from Macquarie University in 1994; the Human Rights Medal presented by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission in 1997; an award presented by Nelson Mandela on behalf of the Sydney Peace Foundation in 2000.

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Ignoring Abuse of Aboriginal Women, Children

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 22.05.2006 (IPS): Revelations of horrific levels of sexual abuse and violence suffered by women and children in Australia’s aboriginal communities have surfaced, even as the fifth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is underway in New York.

A leaked confidential briefing paper by Nanette Rogers, government prosecutor in the Northern Territory, exposes how indigenous culture and close-knit kinship ties have helped create a blanket of silence over rampant violence against women and children.

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New Generation Sisterhood

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 09.04.2006 (WFS): “I may feel like a little Black girl who can run fast, but I’m also a woman who followed her  heart and achieved her childhood dream,” writes Cathy Freeman on becoming the first indigenous Aboriginal Australian athlete to take home an Olympic gold medal in the women’s 400-metre race at Sydney 2000.

Her sentiment reflects a feeling of power that many women in their 30s and 40s are experiencing. Born in Mackay in northern Queensland (Australia) in 1973, Freeman discovered her passion for running at the age of five and went on to win an Olympic gold medal.

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