DEAR WIKIPEDIA EDITOR, CAN YOU LOOK OVER THIS ARTICLE? I ALSO HAVE A PHOTO (HANNAH AND EMIL WITTON) BUT CANNOT WORK OUT HOW TO UPLOAD IT INTO THE GALLERY SPACE THANKS RON WITTON
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HANNAH AND EMIL WITTON
Hannah Witton[edit]
Hannah Witton (1919-1993) was a Sydney activist involved in the Aboriginal rights movement [1].
Hannah Witton and her husband Emil came to Australia in June 1939 as Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany. In the years following the Nazi accession to power in 1933 they had personal experience of being non-citizens in their own country. The first time they heard of the treatment of Aboriginal people was in the early forties when they read reports in the Tribune, the newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia, at the home of Rosine Guiterman [2] who looked after many refugees. The first years were very hard for them, finding their way in a new country and raising 3 children. They had always been very politically aware and by the fifties were able to become more actively involved in self-education and political activities. In the late fifties Hannah attended a NEF (New Education Fellowship) workshop at which Faith Bandler [3] spoke and this led first Hannah and later Emil to join the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship (AAF) and to participate actively in the struggle for Aboriginal rights. They developed a close collaborative relationship and life-long personal friendship with Faith and and her husband Hans Bandler and worked together with them for many decades on a variety of Aboriginal issues.
Hannah and Emil were both on the executive of the AAF and later involved in the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) where they campaigned on issues of land rights and civil rights of Aboriginal people. This included the successful campaign against section nine of the New South Wales Aborigines Protection Act, which prohibited the sale or supply of liquor to "any aborigine or person having apparently an admixture of aboriginal blood". They attended protest meetings and visited Aboriginal reserves with the Aboriginal activist Ken Brindle, seeing first-hand how Aboriginal people lived under the provisions of this Act. The parallels between the lives of Aborigines and their own experiences living under the Nazi Judengesetze (laws applying to the Jews) were not lost on them. They were also very aware that they had become full Australian citizens only five years after their arrival in Australia from a hostile country, while full rights were still being denied to the first Australians.
From its very beginning they were actively involved in FCAATSI's campaign to amend the Australian Constitution which culminated in the successful 1967 referendum. Hannah worked hard on the campaign and Emil's printing firm printed campaign material including one of the 'Yes' for Aborigines posters.
Hannah and Emil also promoted the handover of executive positions to Indigenous members in the AAF and FCAATSI. Emil resigned his position as FCAATSI treasurer in 1973 and Hannah also resigned from the executive of the Aboriginal Education Council for the same reason.
For the rest of their lives they continued to be involved in human rights issues and kept in contact with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander friends and activists. In 2010 Hannah Witton's work for Aboriginal Rights was commemorated by the ACT Government by the naming of a road, "Hannah Witton Lane", in the suburb of Bonner [4]
Rawitton (talk) 22:40, 9 April 2017 (UTC)RawittonRawitton (talk) 22:40, 9 April 2017 (UTC)
Jump up ^ Material for this article, unless otherwise referenced, is drawn from an interview with her widower Emil Witton conducted by Leanne Miller and Sue Taffe on 6 November 1996. National Museum of Australia, Collaborating for Indigenous Rights 1957-1973 (http://www.indigenousrights.net.au) and from the chapter "From Hitler's Germany to Aboriginal activism", in Anne Sarzin and Lisa Miranda Sarzin: 'Hand in Hand: Jewish and Indigenous People Working Together', published by Write 4 U (2010) Jump up ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosine_Guiterman Jump up ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Bandler Jump up ^ http://www.planning.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/896226/Bonner_Sheet_2_of_2.pdf