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The Australian Abo Call, also known simply as Abo Call, was the first Aboriginal-focused publication printed in Australia, with all issues published in 1938.
The paper was written and edited by Jack Patten, who co-founded of the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) in 1937, and featured news gathered by Patten on his travels through eastern Australia, as well as from correspondents nationwide. The newspaper's tagline was "The Voice of the Aborigines".
William Ferguson, who co-founded the APA with Patten, was opposed to the publication of the Abo Call on the grounds that he believed it was a mouthpiece for its right-wing financial backers P. R. Stephensen and William John Miles. Ferguson also considered the newspaper's title to be insulting towards Aborigines.
Stephensen was known as a writer and publisher, and was honorary secretary of the Aboriginal Citizenship Committee, a support group of the APA, but was also known for turning to pro-Fascist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Communist views in his magazine The Publicist which he founded in 1936.
Abo Call closed down after six months of publication, due to lack of funds.
The State Library of New South Wales holds the six issues that were published, among Percy Reginald Stephensen's papers.
Archives
Abo Call is available online through Trove, a service hosted at the National Library of Australia which allows access to historic Australian periodicals and newspapers.
Legacy
Marcia Langton later wrote that she and the other founders of the monthly paper Koori Bina at Black Women's Action in 1976 had been inspired by Abo Call. PDF
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