In 1970, Redfern was a hard place to live. The infamous Three Sisters public housing blocks, completed a few years before, already cast a long shadow over the suburb. If you were Indigenous, it was an even more difficult place to live.

Indigenous children are significantly over-represented in the criminal justice system. Credit:Angela Wylie

Racist policing, segregation by curfew and arbitrary arrest were rife. The authorities were

emboldened by the Askin state government’s Summary Offences Act. These laws turned minor misdemeanours into offences and criminalised a generation of youth according to race and class.

But a group of courageous young Aboriginal students turned the tables. They trailed police, making notes on their behaviour towards the local Aboriginal community. They amassed a vast amount of incriminating evidence.

These notes were enough to persuade Hal Wootten, then Dean of Law at the University of NSW, to help them establish their own shopfront on Regent Street. It was Australia’s first dedicated Aboriginal legal service and opened in December 1970.