Charles Nelson Perkins (born June 16 1936 in Alice Springs, died October 19 2000) was an Australian Aboriginal activist. He was educated at Le Fevre Boys’ Technical School, Adelaide, the Metropolitan Business College, Sydney and the University of Sydney from where he graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts. He married Eileen Munchenberg on September 23 1961 and had two daughters (Hetti and Rachel) and one son (Adam).

In 1964 he was one of the key people involved in the Freedom Ride - a bus tour by activists through northern New South Wales rural towns publicising discrimination against Aboriginal people in small-town Australia. In 1981 he was made head of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, the first Aborigine to become a permanent head of a federal government department.

Perkins was awarded Jaycees Young Man of the Year in 1966, Aborigine of the Year in 1993 and the Order of Australia in 1987. Throughout his career he was a strident critic of Australian Government's policies on indigenous affirs and was renowned for his fiery comments.

Further reading

• Perkins’ autobiography, A bastard like me. Published by Ure Smith in 1975.
• Charles Perkins: a biography by Dr Peter Read. Published in 1990.