Last week, the Victorian Government announced the Aboriginal Church of Christ, founded by Sir Doug, was now heritage protected.
Sir Doug was pastor of the church during the 1940s and it has been included on the Victorian Heritage Register in recognition of its significance to the Aboriginal community and the place which many people describe as where the modern Aboriginal rights movement started.
The exterior of the church, on Gore St in Fitzroy and now a residential dwelling, still resembles the building where Sir Doug and his wife Gladys led numerous social justice campaigns for Aboriginal people in Victoria.
“This building has a special place in the hearts and history of the Victorian Aboriginal community — it’s wonderful to see it being recognised and protected,” Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne said.
“Pastor Doug Nicholls and his wife Gladys turned this humble church into a place that galvanised the Aboriginal community in their fight for basic human rights,” Mr Wynne said.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams said the church "was more than a place of worship — it was a place of community and strength from which many contemporary Aboriginal services and organisations evolved”.
At a time when most indigenous people didn’t even have the right to vote, many Aboriginal political and social justice groups emerged from the gatherings at the church.
By the first half of the 20th century, it became an important community centre for many indigenous people who moved from regional Victoria to Melbourne.
With the declaration of World War II, many more Aboriginal families moved to Melbourne, and Fitzroy in particular, to be closer to their enlisted husbands and sons.
Places included on the Victorian Heritage Register must be of state level heritage significance.
The listing ensures legal protection and means the place cannot be altered without a permit or permit exemption from Heritage Victoria.
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