What motivated you do a Social Work Degree?
My older sister Jenny Morrison, who is now deceased, did Social Work and she was two years ahead of me at school. We shared a bedroom and she would leave her Social Work books lying around the room. So, when I was in my final years at school, I would pick up these books and read them.
There were books on Sociology, Anthropology, and there were case studies and in particular, Erving Goffman’s “Asylums” (Erving Goffman’s “Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates”), which was quite simple to read really and I really got into that. It was very simply written for people who were untutored. That was a period when the theorist RD Laing (Ronald David Laing – Scottish Psychiatrist who worked extensively on mental illness) was really popular.
What my sister was studying was really fascinating and I took a great interest in Social Work and I wanted to study it. I went to the University of Queensland and that was a direct result of my older sister leaving those books around.
Was there any particular theorist or teacher who enthused you at that time?
The main thinking was that we were following RD Laing, but there were a number of lecturers who influenced me. They were all very radical, and that was because of the politics in Queensland at the time, in particular the treatment of indigenous people.
Can you say a little about the political situation at the time?
The situation for indigenous people was absolutely appalling. They were mostly incarcerated on reserves and they had to ask permission to enter or leave, to get married, all sorts of things were going on. They were truly institutionalised and we wanted to get the act which allowed that to happen, repealed. There was a large movement for black rights. There was also the Vietnam War going on and that radicalised people and the radical teachers had a great effect on radicalising me.
One of the lecturers was Roisin Hirschfeld, there were others as well, but Roisin was the one who encouraged me to have my final placement in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service where I worked for 18 months. I worked very closely with indigenous families. I would go to the courts every day, getting bail for the Indigenous people, sorting out their social problems while the lawyers worked on their legal problems.
Did you have any other jobs?
What I did the year after that though is very interesting and it really hasn’t been talked about. I worked for the Department for Children’s Services and I worked in exactly the same area, working with indigenous families in the inner city. The result of having that position was that I actually had more power. I worked to get families back together; many of the children were in institutions and had been separated from their families. I was also able to sort out a lot of stuff with benefits because I had the power to do that. After about two to two and half years of doing that job I was exhausted. I was very young. When I look back at what I was doing, what I experienced and what I did and saw, considering how young I was, it was pretty incredible.
Were you motivated by being anti-racist as well as the theories you had learned through your Social Work degree?
I was changed forever, almost immediately, by witnessing racism. I travelled all over Queensland (Queensland, Australia) with indigenous people. I saw the most extraordinary racism. It was such a racist state and this was backed up by the cops, by the institutions, by the government. It was absolutely appalling. It was tragic.
The Bjelke Peterson Government (Queensland State Government in the 1970’s) were also pro mining, anti Trade Union and anti protest. Were you involved in the Anti Street March protests?
Yes I was. I was directly involved. Because the counter culture was so strong, we were marching all the time, and the Bjelke Peterson government banned street marching. That was incredible, and that meant we were really fighting on the street.
You have to remember at that time you couldn’t have an abortion in Queensland and homosexuality was banned, so gay people had to leave the state. It is incredible to think about that situation. It was a really terrible time and that is why I think the Punk movement was so strong and I think that is why Queensland had the best Punk bands.
See ABC news report on anti street march protest at the link below
www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-28/a-right-to-march-rally-in-brisbane-in-1977/13858908
For more information regarding the work of Lindy Morrison see the links below
