Gary Foley

Gary Edward Foley (born 11 May 1950) is an Australian Aboriginal Gumbainggir activist, academic, writer and actor (he eschews Australian nationality). He is best known for his role in establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972 and for establishing an Aboriginal Legal Service in Redfern in the 1970s. He also co-wrote and acted in the first indigenous Australian stage production, Basically Black.

Gary Edward Foley was born in 1950 in Grafton, New South Wales, and spent much of his childhood in Nambucca Heads. He was expelled from school on the basis of race at the age of 15 and arrived in Redfern in 1967. He worked as an apprentice draftsman and became involved in the "black power" movement active in that suburb.

Foley played an active role in organising protests against the Springboks in 1971 as a result of the Apartheid policies in South Africa. At one stage, Foley and fellow protester Billy Craigie were arrested for wearing Springbok jerseys outside the team motel in Bondi Junction with the police believing they had been stolen when they had been supplied by former Wallabies player Jim Boyce. As a result of the level of protests against the Springboks, an Australian tour by the South African cricket team later that year was cancelled and the two-decade exile of South African sporting teams commenced.

In 1972, Foley was appointed a public relations officer in the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. He was fired from the Department after just six weeks, after three warnings, and then secretary Barrie Dexter urged ASIO to spy on Foley.

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