Indigenous people have long spoken about coercive practices of officials and experts around birth control, as late as the 1960s. Now historians are finding evidence in the government’s own records.
Articles on 1967 referendum
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Many Liberal politicians have been passionate about redressing Indigenous disadvantage, but have come unstuck by the pitfall of ‘settler liberalism’.
It is notoriously difficult for referendums to succeed in Australia – but there are lessons from those that have gone before about how to improve their chances.
It would have amazed campaigners from 1967 to see people today wearing outfits that overtly describe the movement.
The Coalition’s position on the Voice is entirely consistent with their partisanship in this area of Aboriginal policy since the 1980s.
If the 2023 referendum fails, it will at least in part be due to the shortcomings and spoiled hopes of 1967.
Of 44 referendums put to the Australian people since federation, only eight have passed – but those championing a First Nations Voice to Parliament need not be deterred.
David Milroy’s Panawathi Girl is a rocking, vaudevillian, politically sharp and engaging piece of Australian First Nations’ music theatre.
The result of the 1967 referendum may well have made Australia appear less racist, but it did not address the inherently racist nature of the Constitution.
The National Gallery of Australia’s Third National Indigenous Art Triennial presents a passionate well-considered argument for an enduring Aboriginal culture.
The 1967 referendum was the culmination of a long struggle for both Aboriginal rights and respect, for social esteem as well as equality before the law.
The 1967 referendum fell far short in giving people what they thought they were voting for, and in giving Aboriginal people what they wanted from it.
Top contributors
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Associate Lecturer, Law School, UNSW
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Adjunct Professor of History, James Cook University
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Joanna Mendelssohn is a Friend of The Conversation.
Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Indigenous Health, Executive Director, Carumba Institute, Queensland University of Technology
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Professor of Law, UNSW Law School, UNSW
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Associate Professor, Macquarie University
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Senior Lecturer in History, Australian Catholic University
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Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
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Associate Professor & Postgraduate Research Coordinator, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University
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Professor Emerita in Constitutional Law, University of Sydney
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Director of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Research Office, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor of History, CQUniversity Australia
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Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design and Society, University of Technology Sydney
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Faculty of Arts Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellow, Indigenous and Settler Relations Collaboration, The University of Melbourne
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Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Monash University