
In 1971 the South African Rugby league team was scheduled to tour Australia and were on their way to Brisbane as part of the tour. But well before that, a movement against the pro-apartheid National Government of South Africa, that had been in power since the end of the second world war.
Protesters gathered outside the Tower Mill Hotel where the South African team was staying, demanding an end to apartheid and an end to the tour, but then Premier Joh Belkie-Peterson moved the game from Ballymore to the Exhibition Grounds, declared a state of emergency that would last a month and brutally cracked down on protesters, including reassigning 600 rural police to quell the protests.
The tour did end up going ahead, but it marked an early point in a campaign of international pressure on the Nationalists and turned a spotlight on the abuses of the Belkie-Peterson Government.
This is the topic of one of the panels at the Brisbane Writers Festival this year, Political Football, the radical history of the Anti-apartheid protests in Brisbane, on the 50th anniversary of the event.
Alexis Pink interviews Anthony Abrahams, former Australian Rugby player and the lead voice in the sport at the time for severing sporting ties with apartheid South Africa.
[Photo courtesy of the Brisbane Writers Festival]

Your 8AM Zedlines with Ava and Dan! (Image via Flickr)

Your 11AM Zedlines with Alec, Stella, and Em

Your 9am zedlines with Vivek, Em and Alec.

Your 8am zedlines with Alec, Vivek, and Stella.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Cass and Lachlan

Your 10AM Zedlines with Hailey and Georgie.

Your 9AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Hailey.

Your 8am Zedlines with Cass and Georgie.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Clem, Zayna and Livinia
Image Credit: Pexels

Your 9AM Zedlines with Clem, Zayna and Livinia
Image: Flickr

Your 8AM Zedlines with Dane, Livinia, Clem
Image: Flickr

Your 11am Zedlines with Niamh, Alannah and Sarah
Image via Wikicommons

Your 10am Zedlines with Sarah, Alannah and Niamh
image via credit: ইব্রাহিম হাসান via wikimedia commons

Your 9am Zedlines with Sarah, Alannah and Niamh
Image via Flickr

Your 8am Zedlines with Sarah Alannah and Niamh
(image via Wikicommons)

Your 11AM Zedlines with Asha and Yuchen (Image via Wikicommons Media)

Your 10AM Zedlines with Charlie, Dan and Ethan (Image via Flickr)

Your 9AM Zedlines with Asha and Yuchen (Image via Flickr)

Your 8AM Zedlines with Charlie, Dan and Ethan (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Your 8am zedlines with Vivek, Sarah, Em and Alec.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Georgie and Hailey

Your 10AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Cass

Your 9AM Zedlines with Hailey and Georgie.

Your 8AM Zedlines with Cass and Lachlan

Students at a high school in Brisbane are snubbing the school bus service over concerns of repeated late slips, with parents reporting bus delays as long as 20 minutes.

Your 10AM Zedlines with Clementine, Livinia and Jules

Your 9AM Zedlines with Clementine, Livinia and Jules

Your 8AM Zedlines with Clementine, Livinia and Jules