Aboriginal Legal Service

The Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) is an organisation providing legal assistance to Aboriginal Australians in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ALS was the first operation of its kind in Australia. It began in 1970 with volunteers providing free legal advice and representation to Aboriginal people in inner-Sydney from a shopfront in Redfern.

Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) continues to provide legal assistance to Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in Australia.

The service was founded in 1970 and was the first agency to provide specialist legal assistance to Aboriginal people.

The origins of the Aboriginal Legal Service lay in the response of Aboriginal people to police activities in and around Redfern at the close of the 1960s.

In 1970, police were enforcing a curfew from 9:30pm onwards targeting Aboriginal people in inner Sydney. Aboriginal people walking the streets in Redfern, Newtown, Alexandria and Chippendale were subject to arbitrary detention and arrest by police.

On Thursday and Saturday nights when Aboriginal people congregated at the Clifton and the Empress Hotel, the police often blocked off the streets of Redfern with police bullwagons half an hour before closing time. They moved into the hotels and forced Aboriginal people out onto the streets. Police officers would then indiscriminately arrest Aboriginal individuals who then spent the night in the cells. Those Aboriginal people arrested were later charged under the Summary Offences Act 1970 with a basic trespass offence, punishable by a fine of up to $200, or three months imprisonment, and they were charged with drunkenness, offensive behaviour and offensive language.

There were many complaints of assaults in the cells. Aboriginal people were essentially at the mercy of the police and magistrates. While there was a limited scheme of ‘public defender’ legal assistance, there was no effective legal representation. Most people appeared unrepresented and simply pleaded guilty.

Against this background, a group of young Aboriginal people including Paul Coe and Gary Williams attempted to organise a vigilance group. Their aim was to photograph and witness incidents of police arrests with the intention of passing this factual information to the media and government agencies. They wanted to stop repressive police action. They also spoke to students at university campuses and to trade union groups about the problems Aboriginal people were experiencing.

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