Fighting Hard: The Victorian Aborigines Advancement League

Fighting Hard tells a history of the Aborigines Advancement League, the oldest Aboriginal organization in Australia. As both a welfare and activist body, the League can be seen as the mother of all Aboriginal Victorian community organizations, having spawned a diverse range of organizations. This work discusses how the League influenced the fight for civil rights and took a stand against the government’s assimilation policy and how its national significance is marked by the League’s leadership where, from the 1970s, many community heroes became role models for Aboriginal youth. Additionally, this study shows how the League has proven that, despite the pervasive mythology, Aboriginal people can successfully govern their own organizations and that the League has proven its capacity for managing good governance while maintaining Aboriginal cultural values.