Australian anti-apartheid activists being honoured in a new exhibition in South Africa say it is an important reminder of the power of protest.
The most effective of the Australians' protests against Apartheid was the boycott of all-white South African rugby and cricket teams in the early 1970s.
As a student activist, Meredith Burgmann jumped the fence at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the 1971 game between the Wallabies and the racially-selected Springboks.
Meredith Burgmann, Anthony Abrahams and Jane Singleton reflect on the anti-Apartheid campaign in Australia.
"I remember thinking when I got onto the ground ... 'Wow I didn't even think I'd get over the fence,' and then I thought, 'What do I do now?' and we just ran on ..." Dr Burgmann told SBS World News.
"My sister actually got the ball out of the scrum and kicked it, and The Bulletin called it the best kick of the season, whereas I just lay down in front of the players."
The famous images of her being dragged off the ground by police are part of the exhibition that opens on Thursday at the Johannesburg Supreme Court, where Nelson Mandela was once imprisoned.
Also featured in the exhibition is Dr Burgmann's correspondence with Australian cricket legend Don Bradman.
Her polite but firm letters helped convince Bradman to cancel a tour against the South African team, not on safety grounds, but on principle.
"I could tell this was an older man struggling with the whole idea of 'should Australia be playing a racially-selected team?' which was really the issue."
Sport and politics do mix
Anthony Abrahams played 13 matches for the Wallabies but is best known for leading the campaign against the 1971 Springboks tour after seeing the situation in South Africa first hand.
"The whites-only benches around the towns, the separation of toilets, the whole society was a divided society based on race," Abrahams said.
While the tour went ahead - without Mr Abrahams and six other players - it would be the last time Australia met South Africa on the sporting field for more than two decades.
"The lead up to the tour got people in Australia thinking about it and we watched the public opinion polls progressively changed in favour of those who wanted to stop the tour," Abrahams said.
"It was a thought-provoking experience for many people in Australia, not just in the rugby states."
He dismisses any suggestions that sport and politics don't mix, citing the recent example of NFL players kneeling during the US national anthem.
"It's saying with regards to those that make a stand that are involved in sport, that their obligations and issues as human beings don't stop at the turnstile of a sporting ground."
Anthony Abrahams refused to play against the racially-selected Springboks.
Inspiring future generations
Former chair of the African National Congress support group, Jane Singleton, says that is one of many lessons from the campaign.
She organised Mr Mandela's visit to Australia in 1990 before he became president.
"Even in 1990 the then-premier of New South Wales would not meet Nelson Mandela publicly, so it was a 20-year campaign, but it changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of South Africans," Ms Singleton said.
She says today's long-running campaigns often struggle to gain the same traction.
"People have been concerned about a number of issues [like] the big debate now about same-sex marriage. How do you actually make the protest effect a change? I think that's what the exhibition shows us."
The activist trio will fly to South Africa for the exhibition opening.
"It'll really hit us for the first time how important the international struggle was for the end of apartheid. It is really the great international campaign of the 60s and 70s because it actually worked, we actually did stop sporting tours, we actually did start the isolation of South Africa and the eventual end of apartheid," Dr Burgmann said.
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| Meredith Burgmann Anthony Abrahams and Jane Singleton reflect on the anti-Apartheid campaign in Australia. |
The most effective of the Australians' protests against Apartheid was the boycott of all-white South African rugby and cricket teams in the early 1970s.
As a student activist, Meredith Burgmann jumped the fence at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the 1971 game between the Wallabies and the racially-selected Springboks.
Meredith Burgmann, Anthony Abrahams and Jane Singleton reflect on the anti-Apartheid campaign in Australia.
"I remember thinking when I got onto the ground ... 'Wow I didn't even think I'd get over the fence,' and then I thought, 'What do I do now?' and we just ran on ..." Dr Burgmann told SBS World News.
"My sister actually got the ball out of the scrum and kicked it, and The Bulletin called it the best kick of the season, whereas I just lay down in front of the players."
The famous images of her being dragged off the ground by police are part of the exhibition that opens on Thursday at the Johannesburg Supreme Court, where Nelson Mandela was once imprisoned.
Also featured in the exhibition is Dr Burgmann's correspondence with Australian cricket legend Don Bradman.
Her polite but firm letters helped convince Bradman to cancel a tour against the South African team, not on safety grounds, but on principle.
"I could tell this was an older man struggling with the whole idea of 'should Australia be playing a racially-selected team?' which was really the issue."
Sport and politics do mix
Anthony Abrahams played 13 matches for the Wallabies but is best known for leading the campaign against the 1971 Springboks tour after seeing the situation in South Africa first hand.
"The whites-only benches around the towns, the separation of toilets, the whole society was a divided society based on race," Abrahams said.
While the tour went ahead - without Mr Abrahams and six other players - it would be the last time Australia met South Africa on the sporting field for more than two decades.
"The lead up to the tour got people in Australia thinking about it and we watched the public opinion polls progressively changed in favour of those who wanted to stop the tour," Abrahams said.
"It was a thought-provoking experience for many people in Australia, not just in the rugby states."
He dismisses any suggestions that sport and politics don't mix, citing the recent example of NFL players kneeling during the US national anthem.
"It's saying with regards to those that make a stand that are involved in sport, that their obligations and issues as human beings don't stop at the turnstile of a sporting ground."
Anthony Abrahams refused to play against the racially-selected Springboks.
Inspiring future generations
Former chair of the African National Congress support group, Jane Singleton, says that is one of many lessons from the campaign.
She organised Mr Mandela's visit to Australia in 1990 before he became president.
"Even in 1990 the then-premier of New South Wales would not meet Nelson Mandela publicly, so it was a 20-year campaign, but it changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of South Africans," Ms Singleton said.
She says today's long-running campaigns often struggle to gain the same traction.
"People have been concerned about a number of issues [like] the big debate now about same-sex marriage. How do you actually make the protest effect a change? I think that's what the exhibition shows us."
The activist trio will fly to South Africa for the exhibition opening.
"It'll really hit us for the first time how important the international struggle was for the end of apartheid. It is really the great international campaign of the 60s and 70s because it actually worked, we actually did stop sporting tours, we actually did start the isolation of South Africa and the eventual end of apartheid," Dr Burgmann said.
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