Details

SDS was established at the University of Melbourne in August 1968. The founding members were undoubtedly influenced by the example and early (i.e pre-1968) ideas of the broad-based, North American student organization of the same name.

In mid-1968, the founders of SDS established an off-campus headquarters in an old but large building on the corner of Palmerston and Canning Streets Carlton. (The building had formerly been used as a hotel, and previous to that, apparently, as a brothel). The two-storey building, now called The Centre for Democratic Action, was ideal as a location for radical student activist activity – a rabbit warren of rooms and corridors suitable for living quarters and political meetings, and a sizeable garage suitable for silk-screen poster production, gestetner and off-set press.

The initial hard-core group of SDS activists included Harry Van Moorst (Secretary), Michael Hamel-Green, David Day (Treasurer), John Layfield, Ian McIvor (President), Dianne Crunden and Fran Newell. Most, but not all, early SDS members were students. About eight SDS members lived at the headquarters.

In May 1971, in recognition of its reach beyond the student milieu, SDS (still operating from 57 Palmerston Street) changed its name to Radical Action Movement (RAM) and began publishing the broadsheet ‘’Troll’’.

Resources

Constitutions

• SDS Constitution, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, 1968. images PDF Details

Fliers

• SDS Fights for Freedom and Democracy/ Secondary Students Bill of Rights, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, circa. 1969. images PDF Details
• Buy a Truck for the Gurindji’s, Secondary Students for Democratic Action, Melbourne, October/Novermber 1968. images PDF Details
• The Examination System, Secondary Students for Democratic Action, Melbourne, October 1968. images PDF Details
• Secondary Students for Democratic Action, Secondary Students for Democratic Action, Melbourne, 1968/1969. Image PDF Details
• SDS - Arts, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, March 1969. images PDF Details
• Free "U", Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, circa March 1969. Image PDF Details
• Free University, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, circa early 1969. images PDF Details
• Conscription - Advice and Discussion, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, circa 1969. images PDF Details
• Save the Earth: Some Ecology Reprints, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, circa 1970. images PDF Details

Journals

• Inscape, vol. 1, no. 1, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, November/December 1968. images PDF Details

Pamphlets

• Why Register for National Service?/The Right to Dissent, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Sydney, 1968. Image PDF Details
• Save the Earth, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, circa 1970. images PDF Details

Petitions

• Two Years Gaol: The Price of Conscience, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Melbourne, October 1968. Image PDF Details