This Exhibition highlights resources that relate to the 1967 Referendum and its consequences, including the debate around Constitutional Reform.
Guided searches for Referendum, Reform and Reconciliation:
Click on the links to go directly to search results for the terms below:
1967 Referendum | Reconciliation | BlackWords + activists |
Uluru Statement | Aboriginal Rights | BlackWords + Aust. Constitution |
Australians voted in the 1967 Referendum to amend the Constitution to include Aboriginal people in the census, and to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people.
The Referendum is often regarded as a turning point in history for Aboriginal rights.
The sections of the Constitution under scrutiny were:
There are persistent myths about the Referendum, including that the Referendum gave Aboriginal people citizenship, and the right to vote. Larissa Behrendt discusses the three biggest myths of the 1967 Referendum, or, listen to Professor Peter Buckskin discuss the myths that persist about the 1967 Referendum on World News Radio.
On the 50th Anniversary of the Referendum at the National Constitutional Convention, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates issued the 'Uluru Statement from the Heart'. The statement begins:
We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.
and ends...
In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard.
The statement asks for two reforms:
1) A First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution
2) a Makarrata Commission (a tribunal to 'oversee agreement-making between the First Nations and Federal and State Governments' (MUL).
Read the full Final Report of the Referendum Council. The Australian Government rejected the reform. Now, Australian States and Territories are taking steps to develop treaties, which are constitutionally recognised without requiring referendum (Hobbs).
Below is a small sample of external websites exhibiting key moments in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civil rights history.
A National Library of Australia research guide
Extensive online exhibition by the ABC
The Referendum Australia Had to Have
An exhibition by AIATSIS
A photo essay exhibition 'Voices from the Pilbara'.
Events that Led to the 1967 Referendum
A Timeline from National Library of Australia's Digital Classroom
A photographic exhibition/meditation on the Convention at Uluru.
Anita Heiss - 50 Moments in 50 years to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), ‘The referendum Australia had to have’, AIATSIS website.
Gardiner-Garden, J. The origin of Commonwealth involvement in Indigenous Affairs and the 1967 Referendum, Background paper, 11, 1996–97, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 1997.
Gardiner-Garden, J. The 1967 Referendum—history and myths, Research brief, 11, 2006–07, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2007.
Hobbs, H. 'Why the Government was Wrong to Reject an Indigenous 'Voice to Parliment'. The Conversation, October 30, 2017.
Melbourne Law School. 'Uluru Statement from the Heart: Information Booklet'. 2018. website.
National Archives of Australia. 'The 1967 Referendum - Fact Sheet 150', National Archives of Australia website 2019.
National Museum Australia, ‘The Referendum, 1957–67’, Collaborating for Indigenous Rights 1957–1973 website.
Parliamentary Library, Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia, 44th Parliament, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2014.
Reconciliation Australia. '27 May - 1967 Referendum', National Reconciliation Week 2018, website.
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