
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 11am Zedlines with Yuchen, Dan, and Charlie

Your 10AM Zedlines with Asha, Ava and Ethan

Your 9am Zedlines with Dan, Charlie and Yuchen image source Bernard DUPONT via flickr

Your 8am Zedlines with Ava, Asha, and Ethan image source Romain Pontida, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Eden, HG, and Stella

10am zedlines with Vivek, Em, Sarah, and Alec.
IMG: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Littleproud_MP_2018_%28cropped%29.jpg

Your 9AM Zedlines with Em, Stella, and Eden

Your 8AM Zedlines with Vivek, Sarah, Em and Alec

Your 11am Zedlines with Lachlan and Hailey.

Your 10AM Zedlines with Georgie and Cass

Your 9AM Zedlines with Hailey and Lachlan.
Img Credit: VISHWANATH, Pexels
Your 8AM Zedlines with Georgie and Cass
IMG Credit: Thinboyfatter, Flickr

Your 11AM Zedlines with Jules, Dane and Clem

Your 10AM Zedlines with Clem, Zayna and Livinia

Your 9AM Zedlines with Livinia, Dane, Zayna and Jules

Your 8AM Zedlines with Dane, Clem, Jules and Zayna

Your 11AM Zedlines with Sarah, Ellen and Alannah

Your 9AM Zedlines with Sarah, Alannah and Ellen

Your 8AM Zedlines with Miko and Niamh
IMG: “National Day of Action: Stop Black Deaths In Custody - Melbourne/Naarm” by Matt Hrkac, CC BY 2.0

Your 10am Zedlines with Charlie, Ava, and Dan

Your 8am Zedlines with Charlie, Dan, and Ava. Image credit Tatiana Gerus on Flickr

Your 11AM Zedlines with Eden, Stella and HG
Your 9am Zedlines with Stella and Eden
IMG: Supplied Jess Beckerling MLC

Your 8AM Zedlines with Sarah, Em and Vivek

Your 11AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Hailey
Your 10AM Zedlines with Miko & Georgie
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Your 9AM Zedlines with Georgie and Hailey

Your 8AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Miko