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CURRENT PROJECT:

“Chicka’s Story”

The story of the late Aboriginal activist and leader, Charles “Chicka” Dixon.
Book, documentary, educational kit.

Warning: This site contains images of indigenous people now deceased.

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-- Dr Jonathan Bogais is the only writer formally appointed by Chicka Dixon to tell the story of his life, for which he gave his last interviews. --
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Meeting Chinese government officials - 1972
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With Minister Kuo Mojo
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At the Tent Embassy, Canberra
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With Black Panthers in the US

-- No reproduction of any of the material available in this website is authorised without prior written approval by Dr Jonathan Bogais. --

INTRODUCTION

When Charles “Chicka” Dixon first met Jack Patten - one of the organisers of the 1938 “Day of Mourning” - he knew that his destiny had been sealed.

The Chicka Dixon Story recounts Chicka’s journey as it unfolds from that first meeting with Patten in 1946. Chicka developed into one of Australia’s most important Aboriginal activists and leaders, and one of the most notable figures in modern Australian history almost half a century later. Chicka dedicated his life to the fight for basic human rights and justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Although he was instrumental to most movements and events that have marked contemporary Aboriginal history, his long-term focus remained on education and health for most of his life as he knew these were paramount to ensuring the survival and development of his people.

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The book discusses Chicka’s involvement in the push for the ground-breaking 1967 Referendum that gave Aboriginal people full Australian citizenship and the right to vote in their native land. It looks at his participation into the establishment of the ‘Aboriginal Tent Embassy' in Canberra.

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Chicka’s led the first Aboriginal delegation to China and met with Kuo Mojo, Minister for culture, at a time when visits into communist China were prohibited. Qantas wouldn’t fly them, so Air New Zealand did. The book unveils the ASIO files about this visit and the paranoia it caused among officials. Hundreds of ASIO files about Chicka and his peers have been accessed and will be introduced to the readers. Chicka traveled to the US where he met with Black Panther leaders, a visit that lead to the creation of the Aboriginal medical, legal, and children services in Australia. He became the first Aborigine appointed Chair of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. Chicka attended many cultural festivals in Australia, Africa and the Pacific; yet, as much as he enjoyed immersing himself in other people’s cultures, there was a political undertone always present in his mind wherever he went. He told Jonathan in an interview: “Art is not about excellence, it’s about relevance.” He visited prisons in North America organising concerts and talking to inmates about life after incarceration.

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A self-reformed alcoholic, he studied alcohol rehabilitation programmes in the US for implementation in Australia. He contributed to the development of a network of Aboriginal hostels nationwide and halfway houses for people just released from goal. Chicka was a dedicated union member. He told Jonathan: “The unions taught me everything.” The book shows how. ASIO tried for several years to link him to the Communist party unsuccessfully. A true strategist, Chicka never joined a political party. He often said: “Never abuse politicians, use them.” He did! In the meantime, he worked on the waterfront, where he contracted asbestosis, the disease that eventually took his life in March 2010 at the age of 82.

Chicka was remarkably unselfish and modest, a man for whom the struggle was not about personal gain or self-development. Sadly, many have taken credit for much of his work and achievements wrongly - and still do - using the “struggle” to create an identity. The book looks at how history has been distorted by unveiling the evidence for the audience to learn about the truth.
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