Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition records, 1952-2009

fonds

1952-2009

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Clippings, Ephemera, Photographs

901263

7.35 metres of textual material and 2 CD-ROMs (49 boxes), some files contain photographs

The Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition (AABCC) was formally launched in December 1986. It was established to coordinate protest to close United States bases and related facilities in Australia. A secretariat was set up in Melbourne, which operated till the demonstration at Pine Gap in 1987. The secretariat then moved to Sydney. The National Co-ordinator Denis Doherty is a founding member with Hannah Middleton. The AABCC has actively campaigned through lobbying, leaflets and posters, lectures and public meetings, media articles and demonstrations against Pine Gap in 1987 and 2002, Nurrungar in 1989, l991 and 1993, North West Cape in 1988, and other US military facilities in Australia. It has organised protest actions against joint US-Australian military exercises held in Australia, including the Kangaroo series, Tandem Thrust in 1997 and Talisman Sabre in 2005. It recognises the regional struggle for independence and self-determination, and has worked in solidarity with movements in Bougainville, Kananky, Belau, East Timor and with other struggles in the Asia-Pacific region. It was the Australian co-ordinating body for the anti-Gulf war actions across Australia in 1991. AABCC affiliates also played a major role in the 2003 coalitions created to oppose the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The AABCC was a key organiser of the demonstrations against AIDEX (Australian International Defence Equipment Exhibition), a giant arms fair held in Canberra in 1991. It organised the Notice to Quit demonstration in Canberra in 1995, held to draw attention to the fact that the leases on the 30 US bases in Australia were up for renewal in 1998. The Coalition set up the Blue Paper Project which was a response in 1994 and 2000 to Australian Government white papers on military policy and spending. In recent years, the AABCC has adopted the campaign against Star Wars (missile defence) as a major focus of its work. The AABCC continues to campaign against the militarisation of Australian society and the introduction of new US bases in Australia.

References:
Compiled from the collection
Library correspondence file

This collection is described by the following box listings, chiefly of file titles:

Boxes 01-25: Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition records, being files: A-L

Boxes 26-49: Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition records, being files: M-Y

Files arranged in roughly alphabetical order

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Rights and Restrictions Information:: Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition have assigned copyright in their material in this collection to the State Library of New South Wales
Research & study copies allowed: Applies only to material in which the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition own copyright
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition

Listings compiled by the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition have been augmented by Library staff to include omitted file titles