The 1967 Referendum
In 1967, after ten years of campaigning, a referendum was held to change the Australian Constitution. Two negative references to Aboriginal Australians were removed, giving the Commonwealth the power to legislate for them as a group. This change was seen by many as a recognition of Aboriginal people as full Australian citizens.
The referendum campaign effectively focused public attention on the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians were second class citizens with all sorts of limitations - legislative and social - on their lives. This decade-long campaign to change the Constitution came to symbolise the broader struggle for justice being fought during these years. Activists presented the case for a Commonwealth government which would be prepared to take responsibility for Indigenous citizens wherever they lived, for the first time.
The referendum campaign effectively focused public attention on the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians were second class citizens with all sorts of limitations - legislative and social - on their lives. This decade-long campaign to change the Constitution came to symbolise the broader struggle for justice being fought during these years. Activists presented the case for a Commonwealth government which would be prepared to take responsibility for Indigenous citizens wherever they lived, for the first time.
Collaborating for Indigenous Rights 1957–1973
The fifteen years from the late 1950s to the early 1970s was a time of unusual collaboration between black and white activists in Australia. Alliances were formed between Aboriginal Australians motivated to help their people and white Australians wanting to redress the injustices suffered by dispossessed peoples in the building of the Australian state.
The Fights for Civil Rights tells of the campaigns to include Indigenous Australians as members of Australian society with rights to vote and rights to benefits such as the old age pension.
The Struggle for Land Rights documents the concurrent campaigns to develop and disseminate an argument - moral, legal and economic - for an Indigenous right to land at a time when mining companies and governments were working together to develop mines in Aboriginal reserves.
The fifteen years from the late 1950s to the early 1970s was a time of unusual collaboration between black and white activists in Australia. Alliances were formed between Aboriginal Australians motivated to help their people and white Australians wanting to redress the injustices suffered by dispossessed peoples in the building of the Australian state.
The Fights for Civil Rights tells of the campaigns to include Indigenous Australians as members of Australian society with rights to vote and rights to benefits such as the old age pension.
The Struggle for Land Rights documents the concurrent campaigns to develop and disseminate an argument - moral, legal and economic - for an Indigenous right to land at a time when mining companies and governments were working together to develop mines in Aboriginal reserves.