Jack Patten

Journalist and civil rights activist

• Born: March 27, 1905
• Birthplace: Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve, New South Wales, Australia

Also known as: Ironbark

Significance: Jack Patten was a twentieth century Aboriginal Australian leader who helped initiate the civil rights movement for the country’s Indigenous population. Raised on an Aboriginal mission, Patten applied his family’s emphasis on education to develop strong writing and public speaking skills, which he used to persuasively communicate the need to address and improve rights for Australia’s Indigenous population.

Background

John Thomas “Jack” Patten was born on March 27, 1905, in the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Mission Reserve at Moama in New South Wales, Australia. He was the oldest of six children born to John Thomas Patton, a blacksmith who later became a renowned police tracker, and Christina Mary Middleton Patten. Patten’s parents and maternal grandfather, George Middleton, were fervent believers in education and strongly encouraged young Patten and his siblings to study. He received his early education at the school at the mission, followed by studies at the public schools at Tumbarumba and West Wyalong.

Patten volunteered with the Junior Red Cross during World War I, demonstrating administrative skills beyond his years. He earned a school scholarship and wanted to use it to pursue a naval career. However, he was turned down because at the time, Aboriginal people were not allowed to serve in Australia’s military. Instead, he worked at various physical labor jobs and boxed using the name Ironbark. By 1927, he was boxing professionally.

While traveling to a boxing match, Patten met Selina Avery. Avery was from the Bundjalung people who lived in very impoverished conditions in Baryulgil in rural northeastern New South Wales. When Patten learned that the Bundjalung children were not getting an education because they were not allowed in the local school, Patten recruited men to move the school building to another location. They held it hostage until they were promised the Bundjalung children would be allowed to attend.

During the Great Depression, Patten lived in the Sydney Aboriginal squatters camp known as Salt Pan Creek, where his father and brother were also living. He became acquainted with political matters during discussions with other residents. He moved to another part of Sydney in 1936. He met a number of politicians and began to speak up on Aboriginal issues.

Life’s Work

In 1937, Patten partnered with Aboriginal leader William Ferguson to start the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA). As APA’s first president, Patten traveled through Queensland and Victoria, speaking to Indigenous people and collecting their stories. He began writing and publishing what he was learning to draw attention to the poverty, discrimination, and other challenges they faced. Patten addressed legislators and campaigned to end the New South Wales Aborigines Protection Board, which worked to assimilate the Aboriginal population into White society. Their tactics included discriminatory practices and removing Aboriginal children from their families for education in boarding schools.

To help spread the word about APA’s goals and the need for civil rights actions, Patten started the first Aboriginal newspaper in the country. He, Ferguson, and Aboriginal leader William Cooper established the first Day of Mourning on January 26, 1938. The day coincided with Australia Day, when most Australians celebrate the landing of the First Fleet and the start of colonization. Led by the APA and the Australian Aborigines League (AAL), they used the day to call attention to the fact that the colonizers took over lands the Aborigines had used for thousands of years. Their proclamation called for the establishment of laws that would guarantee equality and full citizen status for Aboriginal Australians. In conjunction with the event, Patten drafted a ten-point plan for citizen’s rights for the Aboriginal population. He led a delegation that presented it to Prime Minister Joseph Lyons. The plan is an important document in Australian history.

Patten took part in other protest events as well. In 1939, he returned to the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Mission Reserve. At this time, the mission was under the control of the Protection Board, which was forcing the Indigenous population to work for very little while keeping the profits. On February 4, 1939, Patten encouraged and led the Cummeragunja walk-off, in which about two hundred residents of the mission moved out and refused to work. An agreement was eventually reached that improved conditions for the residents, and many returned. Patten was jailed. The event marks a pivotal point in the Aboriginal fight for rights.

Patten also lobbied for Indigenous people to be allowed to serve in the military. When his efforts were successful, he enlisted and served in World War II. He served in Palestine and Egypt and suffered a shrapnel wound to the knee. After the war, Patten joined the Civil Construction Corps, but his fight was not over. Five of his daughters and his son were removed and sent to boarding schools; he rescued his son and fled to Cummeragunja with him. But the post-war years were tough in other ways; Patten suffered from depression, and he and his wife separated. He ended up in Melbourne, where he advocated for Aborigines appearing in court. He also lobbied against nuclear testing at Maralinga.

Patten died on October 12, 1957, in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne as the result of a car accident. He was buried in Fawkner Cemetery.

Impact

Patten drew attention to the conditions faced by Aboriginal Australians. Through the newspaper he founded and his travels through Indigenous villages, he told the first-hand stories of Indigenous people and helped make them real to people elsewhere. He organized events such as the Day of Mourning, the Cummeragunja walk-off, and meetings with government leaders that helped initiate the civil rights movement in Australia. His ten-point plan for Aboriginal rights became a blueprint for the leaders who followed him.

Personal Life

Patten and Selina Avery married in 1931. They had seven children.

Bibliography

“The 1938 Day of Mourning.” Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, aiatsis.gov.au/explore/day-of-mourning. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Collaborating for Indigenous Rights.” National Museum of Australia, indigenousrights.net.au/timeline/1930-39. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Historic Cummeragunja Walk-Off Remembered.” Yorta Yorta National Aboriginal Corporation, yynac.com.au/historic-cummeragunja-walk-off-remembered/. Accessed 3 July 2023.

Horner, Jack. “Patten, John Thomas (Jack) (1905–1957).” Indigenous Australia, ia.anu.edu.au/biography/patten-john-thomas-jack-7980. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Jack Patten.” First Peoples-State Relations, www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/jack-patten. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Remembering Jack Patten (1905 – 1957).” Koori History, koorihistory.com/jack-patten/. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“What Was the Cummeragunja Walk-Off?” Special Broadcasting Service, www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/what-was-the-cummeragunja-walk-off/smbz2umrb. Accessed 3 July 2023.