The Council for Aboriginal Rights (CAR) was founded in Melbourne in 1951 in order to improve rights for Indigenous Australians. Although based in the state of Victoria, it was a national organisation and its influence was felt throughout Australia; it was regarded as one of the most important Indigenous rights organisations of the 1950s. It supported causes in several other states, notably Western Australia and Queensland, and the Northern Territory. Some of its members went on to be important figures in other Indigenous rights organisations.