Freedom Ride

'Freedom Ride' is set in Walgareen, Australia in the 1960s, and is relevant today in light of the recent referendum. I enjoyed fifteen-year-old Robbie’s earnest, innocent point-of-view narration. At the start of the story, Robbie is innocent and ignorant; his worst worry is his annoying Nan. Robbie’s awareness of racial discrimination grows, and he is eventually forced to pick a side and act.

From the start, Lawson sets the scene: while there were some good people, many were blatantly rude and racist. Robbie accepts things as they are until he meets Barry. Barry has recently returned from the UK where racial lines were almost non-existent. Mr Cavandish tells Barry not to “go stirring up a hornet’s nest”, which of course falls on deaf ears.

When Robbie starts working for Barry at the caravan park, he works with Mickey, a young Aboriginal boy. As tensions rise, anger boils over, resulting in physical and property damage: meanwhile, the Freedom Ride is heading for Walgareen, trying to raise awareness for the plight if the Aboriginal people.

The book contains crude and offensive words which reflect the time, and narrow-minded cruelty of people. I loved the book. Although hard to read at times, it emphasises that unless we think discerningly about what we are taught a school and at home, we cannot break the cycle of discrimination. Robbie shows us that redemption is possible and that we can stand up and do what is right, even though it alienates us from others.