The Aborigines Advancement League (also known as the Aboriginal Advancement League) claims to be the oldest Aboriginal

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 organisation in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is primarily concerned with Aboriginal welfare issues and the preservation of Aboriginal culture and heritage, and is based in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

.

History

The League was established in 1957 as a response to an enquiry by retired magistrate, Charles McLean, into the circumstances of Aboriginal Victorians. McLean was critical of conditions in the Lake Tyers and Framlingham

Framlingham, Victoria

Framlingham was an Aboriginal reserve established by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in Victoria, Australia in 1861. It was located beside the Hopkins River in the territory of the Girai wurrung near the boundary with the Gunditjmara, not to far from Warrnambool on the south-west coast...

 Aboriginal Reserves. McLean recommended that persons of mixed Aboriginal and European decent be removed from the reserves. The people of Lake Tyers objected to this, and the League was formed out of their campaign .

The new League drew from two already existing organisations, the Australian Aborigines League, established 1934 and the Save the Aborigines Committee, which had been established in 1955 as a response to the Warburton Ranges crisis. Founding President of the League was Gordon Bryant

Gordon Bryant

Gordon Munro Bryant was an Australian politician. A member of the Australian Labor Party, he represented the Division of Wills from 1955 until his retirement in 1980....

, with Doris Blackburn

Doris Blackburn

Doris Amelia Blackburn was an Australian activist and Member of Parliament.She was born Doris Amelia Hordern in Melbourne, Victoria, and became involved in women's rights and peace issues from a young age and served as the campaign secretary of Vida Goldstein, the first woman to stand for election...

 as Deputy President, Stan Davey as Secretary and Douglas Nicholls

Douglas Nicholls

Sir Douglas Ralph "Doug" Nicholls KCVO, OBE, was a prominent Aboriginal Australian from the Yorta Yorta people. He was a professional athlete, Churches of Christ pastor and church planter, ceremonial officer and a pioneering campaigner for reconciliation.Nicholls was the first Aboriginal person to...

 as Field Officer.

Early activities included lobbying for a referendum to change the Australian constitution to allow the Federal government

Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...

 to legislate on Aboriginal affairs, and an establishing a legal defence fund for Albert Namatjira

Albert Namatjira

Albert Namatjira , born Elea Namatjira, was an Australian artist. He was a Western Arrernte man, an Indigenous Australian of the Western MacDonnell Ranges area...

, after he was charged with supplying liquor to an Aboriginal ward. By 1967 it had moved to being fully controlled by Aboriginal people with Bill Onus

Bill Onus

William Townsend Onus Jr , known as Bill Onus, was an Aboriginal Australian political activist.-Early life and education:...

 as the first Aboriginal President.

Current activities

The League provides a number of services to Koorie people, including family support, food assistance, home visits, advocacy, counselling and educational programs, drug and alcohol awareness and funeral services. It also has a Cultural Unit that provides information and speakers for schools.

Headquarters and Keeping Place

In 1999 the Victorian government

Government of Victoria

The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...

 completed a $2,790,000 renovation of the Leagues headquarters in Watt St., Northcote

Northcote, Victoria

Northcote is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Darebin...

. As well as providing a community facility, the building houses a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

and "keeping place" for items of historical, cultural and spiritual importance to Aboriginal people.