As New South Wales was preparing to celebrate 150 years since the arrival of the First Fleet on 26 January 1938, Aboriginal peoples in the south east of Australia were planning a Day of Mourning to coincide with the celebrations.
The Day of Mourning had been discussed by Cooper and Ferguson at an AAL Meeting in November 1937 and the AAL and the APA worked together in the planning. Held at the Australian Hall Sydney, delegates from the Aboriginal Advancement League, including William Cooper , Doug Nicholls and Margaret Tucker, attended the conference along with members of the Aborigines Progressive Association . In all, about one hundred Aboriginal people attended, many having travelled from rural and coastal New South Wales.
Jack Patten gave his President’s address in which he called for the abolition of the Aborigines Protection Board: “We do not trust the present Aborigines Board and that is why we ask for its abolition.” Bill Ferguson spoke of the long wait for white Australians to improve conditions, saying “we have been living in a fool’s paradise”.
He spoke of tuberculosis entering New South Wales, of slanders against his people at the NSW Parliamentary Select Committee hearings (at which he represented the Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales), of Aboriginal help to graziers in producing wealth, yet Aboriginal peoples were not allowed to have money to buy clothes and food.