Aboriginal knight on visit

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33857, 31 May 1975, Page 16

Aboriginal knight on visit

The Rev. Sir Douglas Nicholls was brought up on an Aboriginal reservation, and grew up a racist: now he is adviser Ito the. Director of ■ Aboriginal Affairs in Victoria, and the only Aboriginal to have received a knighthood for his services to his race and his country. Sir Douglas is in Christchurch as manager of the Aboriginal women’s basketball team; he hopes to bring a men’s team to New Zealand next year. He said in Christchurch yesterday that his bitterness towards whites made him determined to excel at something, and he devoted his time to Australian rules football, becoming the only Aboriginal to represent Victoria. When he left the reservation at the age of 14, he found a job sweeping gutters, and accommodation in sheds and saleyards. At 20 he was illiterate and anti-social. SLUM MISSION His attitude did not change until he was converted to Christianity, he said. He then studied to become a minister of the Church of Christ, and set up a mission in the industrial slums of Fitzroy, in

Melbourne, where he stayed for 23 years, helping young Aboriginals. He began trying to improve the conditions of the Aboriginal, working mainly through community organisations, and continually seeking the support and advice of members of his race. The main advances had come in the last four years, Sir Douglas said. HOUSING LOANS

A Federal fund was now ; providing s6m a year through the Aboriginal Housing Corporative Society to improve housing for Aboriginal couples who were able to meet a deposit of $l5OO. j Loans of up to $39,000 were made at 2 per cent interest. Sir Douglas is chairman of the committees holding means tests for housing loans. Another scheme implemented in the last four years by the Federal Government makes $lOOO available to city councils to help them provide employment for young Aboriginals. It also gives financial assistance to Aboriginals seeking tertiary education.

These schemes together helped to produce an Aboriginal better qualified to fill administrative and executive positions, Sir Douglas said. Sir Douglas tried to resign in 1972, but was asked to become adviser to the Director of Aboriginal Affairs, and

in the same year received his knighthood. VIEW OF MILITANTS He believes the patient toil lasting years has opened the way for today’s young Aboriginal to share the white man’s opportunities, and that the work of militant groups is destructive.

“They are seeking names for themselves; they do not represent the Aboriginal people. They recruit alarmist supporters who are not even connected with their cause, and say change is not hap-

ipening fast enough. They are (not patient enough.” ‘ Sir Douglas will hold a : sportsman’s service at the (Moorhouse Avenue Church of Christ. Although he was now a retired minister, he does-not hesitate to take the pulpit when the chance arises. He would model the Christchurch service on one held regularly for sportsmen in Melbourne, he said. He will speak of his sporting life, and his experiences as a young minister.