Australian Union of Students (AUS) was established in December 1970 as a successor to the NUAUS, changing its name to reflect the addition of colleges of advanced education to the tertiary education system in Australia.[citation needed]
Julia Gillard, later the 27th Prime Minister of Australia, was elected President of the Australian Union of Students in 1983.[5][6]
In late 1984 a special National Conference of AUS, chaired by the union's Western Australian state organiser, wound up the union. The reason for its dissolution was its lack of access to funding from previously affiliated university campuses, which disaffiliated in 1983 as a result of a series of student referendums held at campuses around Australia. In 1987 the National Union of Students was established as a successor organisation.[citation needed]
Black Resource Centre
The Black Resource Centre (BRC), established in Melbourne by Cheryl Buchanan in 1975, was supported by the AUS.[7] The BRC produced two publications: Black News Service and Black Liberation. Black News Service was published from April 1975 (vol.1, no.1) and c. 1977;[8][9]Black Liberation was published between November 1975 (no.1) and July 1977 (Vol. 2, no. 3).[10] Buchanan had a large network of contacts, and the newspapers could be distributed to many people and organisations around Australia. These included trade unions, women's groups, gay liberation groups, Friends of the Earth Australia and Greenpeace Australia.[11]Black News Service carried an article about activist and later poet, Lionel Fogarty, then aged 17, in its seventh issue in 1975.[12]
At first the students' union controlled the finances and all BRC activities had to be approved by them, but in 1976 Buchanan negotiated a A$27,000 grant from them that was administered directly by the BRC. The BRC moved to Brisbane, where Buchanan's family lived. Buchanan was a member of the Black Power movement and was quite militant in her approach, and like many other Aboriginal activists, was watched by ASIO. In 1977, the University of Melbourne's National Liberal Student Association took the AUS to court, claiming they were spending student fees wrongfully, contravening the union's constitution. Along with other organisations, BRC was listed as receiving funds illegally, and their funding was withdrawn as a result. BRC and its publications became dependent on donations from readers and other organisations, leading to its demise.[11]
Festivals
NUAUS and then AUS organised four alternative festivals, between 1967 and 1973, called the Australian Universities Arts Festival and Aquarius Festival, the latter being a starting point for a new development era of Byron Bay area.[citation needed]
^Sa Parliament, "John Charles Bannon", "SA Parliament". Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2006. Accessed 26 October 2010.