The Students for Democratic Action was formed in Brisbane in 1966. Later changed its name to Society for Democratic Action.

Objectives - To work against nuclear war, the Vietnam war, conscription, world poverty and the unwarranted interference of the State. Emphasized participatory democracy and the superiority of morality over material values. Believed that democratic freedom had to be fought for and, once achieved, had to be protected.

Publicists - Mick Bergin, Tony Bowen, Carlene Crowe, David Guthrie, Alan Knight, Matthew Lambourne, Janita Laver, Dave Nadel, Phil Richardson, Dick Shearman (in addition to those in Students for Democratic Action).

Organisers included Jim Prentice, Greg Mallory, Lorraine Dyer, Paddy McCorry, Janine Bell, Dan O'Neill, Mal Price, Merv Partridge.

Notes: Involved in Civil Liberties Co-ordinating Committee (1967). Linked with Students in Dissent and University Conscription Committee. In March 1968 S.D.A. founded FOCO at Trades Hall as an independent, radical cultural centre It involved music, poetry, film, theatre, a bookshop and a newsletter. FOCO was closed by the Trades and Labor Council in May 1969. The dissolution of S.D.A. in April 1969 reflected a desire to find revolutionary forms of action.

On 3 March 1968 the FOCO Club opened on the third floor of the Trades Hall building. Foco Club came about in March 1968 when the "Society for Democratic Action (initially the Students for Democratic Action) founded FOCO at Trades Hall as an independent, radical cultural centre. It involved music, poetry, film, theatre, a bookshop and a newsletter. FOCO was closed by the Trades and Labor Council in May 1969" -- excerpted from Guyatt, Joy and George, Greg. Publications of political organizations in Queensland p 266.

FOCO was once described as Australia's most evil nightspot.

The Trades and Labour Council building was located on Turbot Street looking down Edward Street, adjacent to Jacob's Ladder. In 1984 the property was sold. With the decision to demolish the Trades Hall, a group of people from Brisbane organised "The last Foco" or "Foco lives" event to be held on Saturday 16 February 1985.

FOCO, a Spanish word meaning focus or centre, connected to Che Guevara's Foco theory of revolutionary warfare. After being asked to leave the Trades Hall venue, and unable to find a suitable replacement, the decision to close FOCO was made in September 1969.

Established in 1884 by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Mission was situated on the South-West side of Thursday Island. The administration of the Mission was handed over to the State Government of Queensland around 1984. Since 1994 the Torres Strait Council has administered Thursday Island.

Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia Queensland Branch (BWIU) (195?- ). Registered as the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters, Joiners, Bricklayers and Plasters of Australasia, Queensland.
Objectives - To uphold the right of combination of labor, and to improve, protect and foster the best interests of the members and to assist them to obtain their rights under industrial and social legislation; to regulate the conditions under which all members may be employed; to join with other organizations with similar objectives, to establish a fund to support trade unionists; to organize the education of the members; to publish a journal and to further any schemes to establish labor research bureaux or union newspapers or radio stations; to establish various benefits for members; to render legal and other assistance to members for the recovery of wages or compensation for injuries, to protect the interests of the trade in all its Branches, and to assist other trades by any legal method.
Publicists - See The Building Worker and the Official Trades Union Directory (Trades and Labor Council of Queensland).
Notes: Carpenters formed a union in Queensland as early as 1861, eventually forming the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Australasia, Queensland Branch. Amalgamations led to changes of name in 1974 to Amalgamated Society of Carpenters, Joiners and Bricklayers of Australasia, Queensland Branch and in 1982 to the present name. The union is known not by its registered name but as the Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia, Queensland Branch The B.W.I.U. is part of the Queensland Building Trades Group which includes the Operative Painters and Decorators' Union, the Australian Building Construction Employees' and Builders Laborers' Federation and the Plumbers and Gasfitters Employees' Union.

A conference in Adelaide in 1958 resulted in the formation of the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement. In 1964, the organisation was renamed to include Torres Strait Islanders in the title. Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) was formed to advance the rights of Aborigines. The Council included Aboriginal Advancement organisations, unions and church organisations. One of their most successful campaigns was the 1967 Referendum campaign. In March 1978 FCAATSI changed its name to the National Aboriginal and Islander Liberation Movement. This organisation never met and it was disbanded after the federal government cut funding in 1978.

The Mapoon Mission commenced on 28 November 1891 on the traditional lands of the Tjungundji people. Initially called Batavia River Mission and founded by Moravian missionaries, James Gibson Ward and Reverend John Nicholas Hey, who were said to have brought several South Sea Islander men to Mapoon to assist them. Many children from the Gulf of Carpentaria region where forcibly removed to Mapoon when the mission became an Industrial School under the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act (1865) (Qld) in 1901. Outstations to the south of Mapoon were established in the early 1900s. The conditions at Mapoon were very poor during the management by the Presbyterian Church. On 1 January 2005 the Mapoon Aboriginal Council became the Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council.

The Aurukun Mission opened in 1904 and was run by the Presbyterian Church . It was situated south of Weipa in far north Queensland.

Australian Democrats (1977-).
Objectives - To serve the best interests of the whole community; to reconcile capital and labour; to improve human relationships through honesty, tolerance, compassion and mutual obligation; to act on population, resources and conservation problems; to support multiculturalism, national planning, decentralization, participatory democracy in government and industry, a plurality of lifestyles and greater equality in incomes and of social services; to support rural industry and to link country and city; to foster community spirit; to encourage individual initiative and to recognize the need for self-fulfilment.
Publicists - Refer to mid-year (July) issue of Queensland Australian Democrats Newsletter. Notes: It is estimated that about a third of the Australia Party's membership has shifted allegiance to the Australian Democrats.

The Murri School (also known as the Aboriginal and Islander Independent Community School) was first established in 1986.