40 Aboriginals walked into the Burlington Hotel, 45th anniversary

TOMORROW marks the 45th anniversary of a little-celebrated but nonetheless significant event in Australia's history.

On March 21, 1965, about 40 Aboriginals walked into the Burlington Hotel, in the Sydney suburb of Haymarket, and staged a sit-in in the hotel lounge.

Organised by leading Redfern identity Ken Brindle, the demonstrators were protesting against the Burlington Hotel's then policy of refusing to permit any Aboriginal patrons to enter into its lounge.

Under the watchful eye of journalists the hotel staff served the protesters without incident, and the next day the Sun-Herald newspaper splashed a photo of Ken Brindle and other Aboriginal men drinking in the hotel lounge.

The ban imposed at the Burlington was a slight loaded with the most profound implication of the social and political standing of Aboriginal Australians and the attitudes of white Australia of the day.

The protest at the Burlington came less than a month after a group of Sydney university students took part in an event that became known as the Freedom Ride.

ED'S NOTE

45 years on, it's time for our generation to direct a new 'rude blow at the genteel silence' that continues to tolerate the polite racism in this country.