Frances Peters-Little, director of Vote Yes For Aboriginies, a film about the 1967 referendum, discusses the political context of the vote and the upcoming referendum on the Voice to Parliament with Isaac Nellist.
1967 Referendum
The ACT government has declared a Reconciliation Day public holiday on the first Monday on or after the 1967 Referendum anniversary date of May 27, which marks the start of Reconciliation Week.
It is the first time in Australia an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-focused public holiday has been created.
Professor Tom Calma of Reconciliation Australia said he hoped it signalled a shift to celebrating multiculturalism, rather than the proclamation of Australia on January 26.
Two very different exhibitions communicate critical evidence about the Aboriginal experience of the 1967 referendum, through which the Australian constitution was amended to remove the racist provisions of sections 51 and 127.
That victory certainly did not end racism in Australia, but opened up the possibility of a broader, unfinished struggle.
This statement was posted on the National Tertiary Education Union website on May 30. The author, Adam Frogley is NTEU National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coordinator and a Taungurung man from the Kulin Nations.
* * *