Following the recent 75th anniversary celebrations to mark the formation of the Dubbo chapter of the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) in 1937, a photographic display of prominent Aboriginal men and women is on show at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo until 17 December. Mr John Nolan, community relations officer with the CSU Centre for Indigenous Studies in Dubbo, said the exhibition is made available to the University by Dubbo City Council and its Aboriginal liaison officer, Mrs Grace Toomey. “The APA was originally formed in Sydney in 1924, and a Dubbo branch was established at a public meeting on 27 June 1937 in a small cottage in Myall Street, Dubbo North, opposite the school,” Mr Nolan said. “Among those present were William Ferguson, Pearl Gibbs and Jack Patten. At that time, Aboriginal people were under stringent controls by the state government, and many were living on Aboriginal Reserves across NSW, including the Talbragar Reserve just outside Dubbo. Ferguson and Gibbs led a group in the western part of the state, while Patten assembled an alliance of activists in the north-east. Both wings of the APA were involved in political organisation, rallies and protests in Aboriginal communities, reserves and major cities like Sydney, to draw attention to the treatment of Aboriginal people and to the conditions in which they lived.”