Guide to the Records of Australian Freedom from Hunger Campaign

Biographical Note

The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation's five year campaign, Freedom from Hunger, was launched in 1960. Freedom from Hunger was intended as a community campaign aimed at raising global awareness of the issues of poverty around the world as well as providing opportunities for communities in developed countries to directly support anti-poverty programs in the developing world.

The first Australian Freedom from Hunger Campaign (AFFHC) meeting was held in 1961. Membership was initially open to organisations rather than individuals, and these included unions and community interest groups. AFFHC grew to become a national organisation in 1964, and adopted its first constitution in 1965. Projects undertaken by AFFHC have included appeals for India (1966), East Timor (1975), Kampuchea (1981) and famine relief appeals for Ethiopia, Tigray and Eritrea (1985). In 1972 AFFHC began funding Aboriginal organisations including the Aboriginal Advancement Association and the Aboriginal Medical Service. The early 1980s saw AFFHC increase its support for indigenous issues and programs, with a grant to the Yipirinya School in the Northern Territory, a campaign calling on the Queensland Government to repeal the Aborigines and Torres Straits Islanders Act of 1971 and support for Aboriginal land councils.

In 1981 AFFHC adopted a new constitution and in the mid-1980s its national office moved from Canberra (where it had been since 1979) to Sydney. In 1992 AFFHC merged with Community Aid Abroad.

Biographical Reference(s)

Community Aid Abroad website, 2001, http://www.caa.org.au/ffh.html